RE: Atheists who announce "I'm good without god"
October 4, 2018 at 8:33 am
(This post was last modified: October 4, 2018 at 8:43 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(October 4, 2018 at 8:13 am)polymath257 Wrote: There is no objective reason to consider shaking hands to be polite. Yet that is one of the common behavioral rules for our society.Etiquette =/= Morality. We may state that in some general senses it's good to be polite, but the content of politeness is explicitly cultural..and when in rome. Further, even within that statement, and within a country where shaking hands is polite, it's still morally admissible not to shake hands - and may not even tank your politeness all that much depending on your explanation for abstaining (if one is even required). Additionally, if there is a moral compulsion to politeness, it is not borne solely by the guest, but also by the host. Each must be cognizant and understanding of the others culture.
It's important to note that moral realism does not contend that -all- moral statements held to be true by a given society -are-, in fact, true. Pointing out a meaningful subjectivity or arbitrarity in a given system just gives a moral realist an application for their system.
To use an earlier example. Believers in some specific faith might contend that some thing or action or state of being x is harmful and dangerous. This is why their pet god prohibits it. Well, they need to show that it is dangerous and harmful..if they can't, then -that- is..just..like, their opinion, man. That prohibition would not belong in an objective system. If they can, it is wrong because they've shown the danger and harm, and that stands or fails wholly apart from their god and could or would be admissible in an objective system. If they contend that it's wrong because their pet god says so. That, too, is an opinion based justification. It has no place in an objective moral system. If they contend that something is harmful, and god says so..in contradiction to fact, not only is that just their opinion..their opinion is wrong as a matter of fact.
Repeat the same exercise with "society says, and because society says".
Repeat the same exercise with an individual interaction.
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