RE: We should take the Moral Highground
April 6, 2012 at 12:11 pm
(This post was last modified: April 6, 2012 at 12:58 pm by Neo-Scholastic.)
(April 6, 2012 at 10:51 am)mediamogul Wrote: What is the basis for nihilism absent the existence of god?We can and do deem things as moral or immoral. The question lies in who or what serves as the ultimate standard or arbiter for determining which is which. In the absence of an ultimate standard or arbiter, each person is left on their own. The individual then becomes their own ultimate authority, each with equal claim for what is right and wrong, rational or irrational. While I could appeal to ideals like human dignity and ‘the golden rule’, another could deny both, and there would be no common thing to which either of us could point to prove the other wrong. The alternative is to assert the existence of some transcendent authority, principle or standard that applies to all individuals. Absent that true morality does not exist. No one has the ‘right’ to demand others behave in a particular way, because right do not exist. Appealing to reason is also insufficient. Saying that everyone should follow reason is just another unfounded assertion. Why should anyone be rational? This leaves power as the only ultimate authority. I call that nihilism.
