RE: Atheism and morality
July 2, 2013 at 7:14 pm
(This post was last modified: July 2, 2013 at 7:18 pm by Inigo.)
paulpablo Wrote:I don't believe that all sensations of god are hallucinations, I think some are, but others could just be feeling of ecstasy or other types of feelings of intense well being coupled with indoctrination that a god exists. So someone could have a sense of right or wrong based on emotional feelings and they wouldn't be hallucinations.
Beliefs and sensations are different. Sensations often give rise to beliefs, but not always. For instance, my visual sense informs me that a pencil bends when placed in a glass of water. But I do not believe it does. So one can sense that something is a certain way without necessarily believing it to be.
If someone has the belief in a god that belief is false if no god exists.
If someone has a sensation that gives them the impression a god exists then that sensation is a hallucination if no god exists. That's just what a hallucination is. A hallucination is a sense report that gives one the impression that something is there, that isn't there.
paulpablo Wrote:So you don't know which parts of morality are passed on from humans and which are instructions from god? Or do you know which is which?
I do not understand your question. I am arguing that morality is composed of the instructions and favourings of an agent. But not just any old agent. An agent who has sufficient power over our interests to be able to confer reasons for compliance with her instructions whatever our interests. And an agent like that is what we would commonly refer to as a 'god'. So morality - all of it - is composed of the instructions and favourings of a god.