RE: Theists: how do you account for psychopaths?
May 24, 2018 at 6:30 pm
(This post was last modified: May 24, 2018 at 7:06 pm by vulcanlogician.)
(May 24, 2018 at 4:22 pm)SteveII Wrote:(May 24, 2018 at 3:55 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote: I said in my former post that I was pretty sure you didn't think things are morally wrong "just because God said so." We agree that morality is 100% objective. We also agree that morality can be understood through human reason. I reject that morality is subjective which is why I reject divine command theory. Divine command theory assumes that something can be wrong only if God says it is. Why is stealing wrong? Because God said so. Not because you are depriving someone of their hard-earned property--that's irrelevant. With divine command, it's subjective morality, but based on God's opinion. Thus divine command becomes incoherent without a deity. Natural law does not suffer from this limitation.
I think we agree on everything except this single point: an immoral action remains immoral in a godless universe. After all, if morality can be "understood universally through human reason" why is God necessary to distinguish moral values? It seems that all that is necessary is human reason. Thus--to return to your original point--even in a universe that exists by accident, we can discern objective moral values with our capacity of reason alone. No God required.
Divine Command Theory is not subjective. God's commands are a result of his perfectly good nature--of which he is bound by--which provides an objective foundation for all moral commands.
There is no objective morality without an unchanging standard. The very definition of evolution ensures there is not such thing. You can have principles on which to base morality, but those principles are themselves not objective. You will always have an infinite regression of "why is it good...why...why" with nothing to stop it. Go ahead, try it.
Why is murder morally wrong?
-It violates the rights of another
--Why is that wrong?
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If you think I haven't stretched myself on that rack, you are sorely mistaken. Since you mentioned moral Platonism, I will say that Plato has been a huge influence upon my ethics, second only perhaps to Spinoza.
Your "infinite regression" is nothing new. Plato covers it in Book II of the Republic. A well-ordered soul demands cohesion with the truth. The truth is that there is an objectively discernible good.
The issue with your moral quandary is that you assume there is no underlying truth... that there is no answer to the question "Why is that wrong?"--there is an answer.
My last sentence was a bit inaccurate. You think there IS an answer.
Why is that wrong?
-because God.
To me, that answer is incoherent. It dodges the question and confuses the issue and in no way represents moral objectivity.