RE: Meaningfulness v meaninglessness; theism vs atheism;
January 24, 2011 at 10:58 pm
(This post was last modified: January 24, 2011 at 10:59 pm by Justtristo.)
I will make my only post of substance on this thread.
To me the finite length of our existence gives it it's meaning. The Romans summed up this very nicely in the phrase Carpe diem. Nobody if they given it deep thought would want to live forever, you would get bored after say a million years. Because there is no end to it.
After reading and thinking about morality, it is a totally natural phenomenon like everything else. In recent years there has been lots of research done by evolutionary psychologists which discuss about the development of morality. I would heartily recommend to read either The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker or The Evolution of God by Robert Wright.
Let me starting by stating that animals exhibit altruistic behavior to varying degree. Some species such as Elephants and Chimpanzees have very complex altruistic behavior which is same as observed in humans. As humans evolved in hunter gatherer bands. Hence humans have inbuilt altruistic behavior towards family and 'friends' which was everybody in these hunter gatherer bands.
Then with the invention of agriculture and development of civilizations forced people to develop ways of justifying altruistic behavior towards larger groups of people. Because without it these societies would collapse. It is no accident that similar philosophical developments occurred around the same time during the axial age across Eurasia. Wither it was the Greek Philosophers, Jewish prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel, The Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tzu.
The conclusion when it comes to morality at least now is contradictory. While I would deny 'objective morality'. However I do believe there is a 'natural morality'.
To me the finite length of our existence gives it it's meaning. The Romans summed up this very nicely in the phrase Carpe diem. Nobody if they given it deep thought would want to live forever, you would get bored after say a million years. Because there is no end to it.
After reading and thinking about morality, it is a totally natural phenomenon like everything else. In recent years there has been lots of research done by evolutionary psychologists which discuss about the development of morality. I would heartily recommend to read either The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker or The Evolution of God by Robert Wright.
Let me starting by stating that animals exhibit altruistic behavior to varying degree. Some species such as Elephants and Chimpanzees have very complex altruistic behavior which is same as observed in humans. As humans evolved in hunter gatherer bands. Hence humans have inbuilt altruistic behavior towards family and 'friends' which was everybody in these hunter gatherer bands.
Then with the invention of agriculture and development of civilizations forced people to develop ways of justifying altruistic behavior towards larger groups of people. Because without it these societies would collapse. It is no accident that similar philosophical developments occurred around the same time during the axial age across Eurasia. Wither it was the Greek Philosophers, Jewish prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel, The Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tzu.
The conclusion when it comes to morality at least now is contradictory. While I would deny 'objective morality'. However I do believe there is a 'natural morality'.
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