(July 12, 2014 at 5:05 pm)Blackout Wrote:What is natural and what is moral or right are two very different questions. One of the advantages of being human is the ability to think through long term consequences and a highly developed capacity for empathy.(July 12, 2014 at 4:02 pm)Insanity Wrote: I agree but I think the definition would have to be stretched pretty far in order to exclude rape and murder as being natural. At that point I think you would have to define almost all human actions as unnatural.
I was thinking, maybe the act of rape is not natural, but the desire is... And I'd like to say something, just because animals do it in the animal kingdom that doesn't justify doing it in our realm. If we started comparing, we could as well argue that since some species eat their children it would be natural for us to do the same. Sure it may be natural for humans to desire rape or killing, but are the acts of doing so natural? Is a social constructed concept, derived from humans living in community, natural? In this last case I'd say so, just like morals can be considered natural because we all tend to form them as humans when we develop... The difference is humans have control over instincts, that's what separates us from other species, for animals it's normal to rape or kill, but since humans have control over their instincts and naturally perceive some acts as wrong, because they are socially constructed to be so and the law follows that criteria, we could say rape is not natural. I don't know, maybe it's partially natural and partially unnatural, help me out.
Rape is common enough that I'm sure it's natural. It's uncommon enough that I'm sure there are some natural breaks on it.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
