Date: Thu, 25 Feb 99 10:24:09 EST
From: "Brian J. Callahan" <Brian=J.=Callahan%MT%DFCI-AT-EYE.DFCI.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: Jesus and Buddha read the minds of plants!


Colin the moke comments on my deathless prose:
>>If there is no God, then everything is permitted.

>this is absolute rubbish.  an absolute or independent morality does not
>depend on the existence of god.  but then again, i believe in neither, so
>it doesn't really matter.

Rubbish, eh?  Fyodor must be rolling in his grave.  I quote from Dostoevsky's 
"Crime and Punishment", often thought to be a classis of philosophical and 
psychological literature, a central theme of which has now been exposed by 
mokey as absolute rubbish.  Absolute?  Are you sure there are absolutes?  
Absolutely sure?

Anyway, the sentence reflects a major theme of Western philosphy in the 19th 
and 20th centuries.  Western morality had largely been based on the Christian 
religion.  Without the belief in divine reward and retribution, the question 
naturally arises as to why any action is forbidden.  Now sure, one can 
construct an absolute morality based on anything you want: Twinkies are evil; 
Hohos are good.  There.  But it's not very convincing without the weight of 
tradition and the fear of angering the big alpha male in the sky, IMHO.

And my personal ethics/morality is based on what I consider enlightened self-
interest, and so is not undercut by the death of God ('member that whole 
Nietzsche thread?  His philosophy is based on this theme).  But there has 
been no consensus yet on what should replace the superstition-based morality. 
One of the strengths of anarchism is that it doesn't require a consensus on 
this, just some bare minimum standards for communities and individuals.