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Old 08-25-2011, 01:21 PM
 
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Is morality absolute? Is there such a thing as absolute morality if we just evolved to believe a certain way?

Can you say that anything I believe in is right or wrong?
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Old 08-25-2011, 01:31 PM
 
Location: MN
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Evolutionary Epistemology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Evolutionary Game Theory (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
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Old 08-25-2011, 01:32 PM
 
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In your own words, how do those apply to this?
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Old 08-25-2011, 01:41 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Calvinist View Post
Is morality absolute? Is there such a thing as absolute morality if we just evolved to believe a certain way?

Can you say that anything I believe in is right or wrong?


no, literally speaking, nothing is really right or wrong, it varies for every person.
that said, based on human evolution and lessons learnt over man's history, there is a certain set of things which majority of human beings perceive as being right or wrong [for example most normal people believe stealing something that is not yours is wrong], and that is what society accepts as the standard.
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Old 08-25-2011, 01:44 PM
 
Location: Dallas, TX
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So Calvinist, you're still hoping to replace logic with emotions and this time around by making them directly comparable. Anyway, why do you think that evolution is impossible?
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Old 08-25-2011, 01:53 PM
 
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Originally Posted by EinsteinsGhost View Post
So Calvinist, you're still hoping to replace logic with emotions and this time around by making them directly comparable. Anyway, why do you think that evolution is impossible?

lol he believes that?
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Old 08-25-2011, 02:02 PM
 
Location: MN
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Calvinist View Post
In your own words, how do those apply to this?
Well, that depends on how you are describing "absolute morality", doesn't it?

In a nutshell, evolutionary epistemology attempts to explain how human knowledge might ultimately be derived from a process of natural selection.

This does reject the idea that the scientific method is irrelevant to the understanding of morality. But I don't see how that undermines moral absolutism. Do you?
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Old 08-25-2011, 04:01 PM
 
Location: Sinking in the Great Salt Lake
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Morality is a man-made idea that just doesn't exist independently from human thought. That seems to be a most difficult concept for evolution nay-sayers to wrap their heads around.

It still doesn't mean morality is irrelevant, however. The "rules" we've created exist today because they proved to be a successful survival strategy for our kind during our evolution as a species. In other words... "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
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Old 08-25-2011, 04:03 PM
 
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Originally Posted by prince40000 View Post
no, literally speaking, nothing is really right or wrong, it varies for every person.
that said, based on human evolution and lessons learnt over man's history, there is a certain set of things which majority of human beings perceive as being right or wrong [for example most normal people believe stealing something that is not yours is wrong], and that is what society accepts as the standard.
So can you say definitively that Hitler was wrong?



Quote:
Originally Posted by Chango View Post
Morality is a man-made idea that just doesn't exist independently from human thought. That seems to be a most difficult concept for evolution nay-sayers to wrap their heads around.

It still doesn't mean morality is irrelevant, however. The "rules" we've created exist today because they proved to be a successful survival strategy for our kind during our evolution as a species. In other words... "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

How about you? Was Hitler wrong? what would you base your opinion on?
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Old 08-25-2011, 04:08 PM
 
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Was Hitler wrong?

Depends on who judges him.....
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