In college, I got into a lot of debates about moral relativism, cultural imperialism, and epistemological modesty. When we were picking fights, it was useful to be able to get a quick sense of your sparring partner's positions, and my friends and I had an easy way to do triage: During the British occupation of India, were the British imperialists right to condemn sati (the practise of burning widows alive on their husbands pyres)? Were they right to want to eliminate it? Were the … [Read more...]
We Go Together / Like Essence and Telos / Doo-bop a doo-bee doo
April 12, 2012 By 28 Comments
Here's Adam of Daylight Atheism's reply to the questions I asked him yesterday about the difference between moral and mathematical laws, and whether either is human-independent. (He also pointed out that we've sparred on this point before, and you may want to refer back to the map-territory post). I believe that mathematics and logic are discovered, rather than invented, although those terms are apt to get us bogged down in deep semantic waters. I think it sheds more light on my position … [Read more...]
Human-Independent Morality
April 11, 2012 By 45 Comments
Adam Lee of Daylight Atheism recently reran an essay he wrote in response to Peter Hitchens ("Atheists Don't Just Want Sex and Drugs"). Specifically, he was taking issue with Peter Hitchens's claim that a moral system that lacked God must lack authority. Hitchens wrote: For a moral code to be effective, it must be attributed to, and vested in, a nonhuman source. It must be beyond the power of humanity to change it to suit itself. I've gone back and forth on whether I believe that first … [Read more...]
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