Quote:
Originally Posted by nateswift
Good answer. Could we say that "moral" by definition would involve actual harm to one or more persons?
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I would say "yes" - although "significant risk of
potential harm" must also be a consideration. Someone might text & drive for years without actually hurting anyone, but it could reasonably be argued that this person was still acting immorally because of putting self and others at significant risk.
But then we have to consider epistemological questions concerning the assessment of "significant" risk vs. significance of various potential benefits. (E.g., the risk of a mother dying in childbirth and leaving her current children motherless, etc.) How do we mere humans really know what the levels of risk would be when all factors are considered? When you get "into the weeds" of certain moral issues, the epistemological questions can become utterly overwhelming. Of course virtually every choice we make has to be made in the absence of complete knowledge. God can only really require that we make a sincere effort to do the right thing. The nature of reality seems "designed" to force us to make important life & death decisions in the absence of full knowledge. If, in fact, God
designed reality in this way, then it would seem God must want us to face these situations and do our best. Presumably God would do this because it is spiritually beneficial for us to face epistemologically impossible odds. And my current contemplation, again, is the spiritual implications of facing
ontologically ambiguous situations where there just really and truly is no "right answer" out there to be found.
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Yes, the risk of actual harm, based on either experience or rational analysis would be apart of "involve," as opposed to demonstrable prejudice. Good point. I do believe that working out such issues is where growing in that concern for the well-being of everyone is our purpose in living the Way taught by Jesus and the Apostles.
