dr_who@umcp-cs.UUCP (07/06/83)
From: faustus@ucbvax (Wayne) Lorenzo Sadun claims that without a supernatural source of morality there is no reason to follow a moral code at all. Wayne disagrees. So do I, but for different reasons... The question here should not be, "Where can we get a basis for our morality", but rather, "What are the ways ... that we can ensure the continued success of civilization?" On the contrary: the question should be where we can get a basis for our morality. Civilization will succeed regardless of how *I* (or charlie or Lorenzo Sadun) behave. Furthermore, while you and I believe that civilization is important -- i.e., good -- what justifies this belief? Besides, it isn't hard to follow a moral code which one has acquired through religious influences while at the same time realizing that there is no coherent justification for them. After all, man is an irrational being, and one's reason and emotions need not, and often do not, coincide. While I admit that many people do just that, I wonder just how easy it is. Wouldn't it be an insult to your freedom to admit that you do something just because you've been (more or less) TOLD to do it? Anyway, the irrationality involved is too high a price to pay. While a full harmony between reason and emotions may be impossible, conflicts between them have some cost. If your moral attitudes are irrational, it seems to me that you have reason to change them. -- your friendly neighborhood "Doctor", Paul Torek, U of MD College Park