RE: Does religion expose the shortcomings of empathy based moral systems
December 2, 2017 at 2:48 pm
In the sense that you are speaking of it, i dont think religion is differemt from anything else people have "used" to commit bad deeds. Politics, culture... any ideology or way of thinking can make an already crappy person hold on to it as an excuse to axude power over others.
Besides that, I agree with you that empathy is always in competition with a person's more selfish or animalistic urges. Having empathy obviously doesn't mean that's all there is to us, and much less, that it always turns out being the more dominant part. Being religious, while it can be a positive influnce/motivation depending on what the religion teaches, doesn't make the person immune to what everyone else has to deal with inside of themselves.
Besides that, I agree with you that empathy is always in competition with a person's more selfish or animalistic urges. Having empathy obviously doesn't mean that's all there is to us, and much less, that it always turns out being the more dominant part. Being religious, while it can be a positive influnce/motivation depending on what the religion teaches, doesn't make the person immune to what everyone else has to deal with inside of themselves.
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
-walsh
