Analyze This Quote - May 2010 Edition (hell, God, believe, philosophy)

[Skyliner]

Here is another interesting quote I would like everyone to discuss. What do you think the author meant and do you agree? What does the quote mean to you personally?

Moral freedom is the absence of the influence of motives on a person's actions.

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Here are links to the previous editions:

August 2009
May 2009

[catman]

I am making the assumption that "moral freedom" is equivalent to amorality. That being said, I can't see that it has anything to do with the "absence of the influence of motives". The latter would give one no reason to do anything, so no actions would take place. I regard the statement as nonsense. It simply doesn't compute.

[Skyliner]

Do you believe then that every conscious action is influenced by a motive? Furthermore, does morality dictate the nature of every motive?

[Fullback32]

Originally Posted by Skyliner

Here is another interesting quote I would like everyone to discuss. What do you think the author meant and do you agree? What does the quote mean to you personally?



____________

Here are links to the previous editions:

August 2009
May 2009

I think every action has a motive. Motives can be for good or ill, subtle or grand. I honestly tried to think of an instance where I did something (or refrained from doing something) just for no reason whatsoever. In my mind, even doing something "because it's the right thing to do" or because we get a warm fuzzy from it is still motivation. Doing something "just to see what would happen" is still a motivation. Those are just intrinsic and subtle motivations.

If the author had said, "ulterior motive", then that would make more sense to me.

[TRANSPONDER]

Hmm.. moral Freedom seems to have two definitions -

The freedom to make Moral choices (comes across to me as Free Will)

The freedom from moral constraints - one does whatever the hell one wants, without consideration of the effects.

I'd certainly respond well to the first but not the second, because I take the Golden Rule as the touchstone of morality.

[Reverend1111]

Originally Posted by Skyliner

Here is another interesting quote I would like everyone to discuss. What do you think the author meant and do you agree? What does the quote mean to you personally?



____________

Here are links to the previous editions:

August 2009
May 2009

To me, that means that you are so loving that no matter what action one takes towards you, you will love them back for who they are and not what. Their unloving actions will have no affect on you. You can see light instead of darkness in one who has murderered or raped. You see god in every human being no matter what they believe or do or say. Moral freedom is just being Love.

[Aeroman]

Wiki talks about this very thing.
Kinda confirms what I believe and that is that we always do things because of a previous cause.
And so in a sense we have no free will as most people think about free will.

• "Physical freedom is the absence of physical obstacles to actions. This is commonly thought to constitute freedom of the will.
• Intellectual freedom results when the mind has a clear knowledge of the abstract or concrete motives to action. This occurs when the mind is not affected by, for example, extreme passion or mind-altering substances.
• Moral freedom is the absence of the influence of motives on a person's actions.
• Self-consciousness is a person's awareness of his or her own emotions, passions, wanting, and willing."

read what wiki says, its rather interesting.
On the Freedom of the Will - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia