(October 5, 2015 at 9:01 am)Nestor Wrote: Just to clarify what the theists in this thread are suggesting: morality cannot be objective unless we imagine a God who, for some nations at some epochs, endorses the beating of slaves and stoning of fornicators…Please be careful with the generalizations. I do not agree with that sentiment and it also presupposes a specific hermeneutic for biblical interpretation that I do not endorse.
(October 5, 2015 at 9:01 am)Nestor Wrote: Objective morality doesn't require God as a source. It requires inquiring minds who experience different states of being in their struggle to attain what every person desires: happiness.I agree that what all people desire is happiness. Your reading of the NE is probably more recent than mine so I have to ask if you also see Aristotle defending a concept to of virtue that exalts conformity to and expression of the essential nature of Man, i.e. a rational animal. As such, objective morality seems to depend on some type of philosophical realism. If I am not mistaken you have previously expressed dismay at the prevalence of neo-Platonic notions in the academy.