RE: what are we supposed to say again when christians ask us where we get our morality?
May 21, 2014 at 7:33 pm
(This post was last modified: May 21, 2014 at 7:36 pm by Neo-Scholastic.)
(May 21, 2014 at 5:53 pm)Rampant.A.I. Wrote: The cockroach comparison is an insipid equivocation, as no one has claimed cockroaches have developed society complex enough to require moral codes.You are wrong. The atheist claim being presented is that morality is a product of evolution. When pressed to explain the response is usually that the adaptation of our species is a disposition to empathy which gives us a reproductive advantage. Where is the morality in that? Sure we form complex social structures. That also is an evolved ability.
The "morality evolved" response is trivial. What it is basically saying is that any behavior that confers a reproductive advantage to the species as a whole is moral by definition. My point is that the same can be said about cockroach survival instincts.Very often, in fact most of the time, moral behaviors require that someone go against their natural instincts. In other words, a person must also apply reason, defer to authorities, or otherwise appeal to something beyond the evolutionary mandates of human nature. Thus evolved dispositions cannot serve as an adequate foundation for morality.
(May 21, 2014 at 5:31 pm)Fidel_Castronaut Wrote:Trival empty rhetoric.(May 21, 2014 at 9:02 am)Kuribo Wrote: I get my morals from my empathy and my compassion for my fellow man..I believe that man has a biological and evolutionary imperative to help one another.....g communities did we overcome the myriad of obstacles. Therefore, compassion and empathy are hard wired in most people.
Spot on.