Atheism and morality

[Inigo]

[quote]Except, I never spoke of our "concept of morality". The concept of morality and morality itself would be two separate things. However, unlike the potential unicorn, our concept of morality is a concept and morality itself is a concept as well. Is that concept too hard for you to understand? [\quote]

No, it is nonsense so of course I can't understand it. I understand it to be nonsense. You know it is nonsense as well, at least I hope you do.

YOu need to challenge one of the premises of my argument. One of those was that morality instructs. I take it that the above is your attempt to challenge it. But you can't challenge a premisethat morality instructs by saying 'no it doesn't....it instructs'.
You accept that morality instructs. You talked later about a code of 'shoulds'. Use 'should' if you like - but that's just another way of acknowledging that morality consists, in part anyway, in instructions to do and not do things.
So, once again, you accept that morality instructs.

It is no good saying 'but the instructions come from us' or 'we confer the instructions'. For you are still acknowledging the instructing nature of morality, it is just that now you are trying to account for it (rather than deny it) by attributing those instructions to ourselves.

Now, that falls foul of another of my assumptions about morality, namely that its instructions are inescapably rationally authoritative.

So, you actually accept my premise that morality instructs. And you accept, it seems, that instructions need to come from an agency of some sort. You accept this, you just don't realise it (for you do not realise what you're saying or the implications of what you're saying - your problem not mine).

So, there is actually only one way you can avoid my conclusion. And that is to challenge my premise that moral instructions are instructions that are inescapably rationally authoritative.