(May 22, 2018 at 4:58 am)robvalue Wrote: I hear many religious theists saying they believe morality "comes from God". I find the existence of psychopaths to be troubling to this idea. I wonder if you'd share how this fits in for you. Please add some explanation if you can, following your poll choice.
I'm using the scientific definition of a psychopath (a person with no empathy). They are generally considered to fall outside the scope of morality, as they have no innate feelings of right and wrong.
Many thanks!
It depends on the theology, but this is just another example of the problem of evil. Most Christians other than Calvinists have already explained this through free will. I'm not sure what the Calvinist explanation would be.
Whether free will can really account for the problem of (human) evil really depends on whether or not psychopathy is something one can control if it is something environmentally or genetically determined. Everything I've read on the subject says it's mostly genetic, so I don't really buy the free will excuse. I have a Catholic friend that tries to convince me of Christianity, and a lot of his apologetic explanations make sense, but total free will is something I just can buy into. Man can do as he wants, but he can't want as he wants, and obviously some people are born without any want to be moral.
My own belief is that God or Nature cares not about your feelings or wellbeing. Morality is an evolved instinct that facilities cooperation and allows those groups that emphasis it to overcome those that don't. This is the Will of God. That's all there is to it.
