Moral Luck

[Talishi]

Two men get drunk, then get in their cars and attempt to drive home.

One of them blacks out and runs off the road to the right, where he sleeps it off in the ditch.

The other one blacks out and runs off the road to the left, where he kills a pedestrian.

Both men performed precisely the same actions, except that chance intervened in the latter case, making him culpable for manslaughter.

The lesson is that the world is a chaotic place where simple black and white moral rules like “Yer either with me or yer with Qaeda!� handed down from on high are not cut out to deal with it. Divine command theory is as ineffective as central planning proved to be in managing a nation’s economy. In reality, even morals and ethics are subject to the principle of the market, also known, in a biological context, as natural selection.

In places like Ireland, where the Catholic Church was the final moral authority for centuries, the people have risen up to strip the Church of power when the sexual abuse of their children by the very arbiters of that moral authority reached a tipping point. From time immemorial, neighbors have risen up to deal with wife abusers or cat burglars when the local constable refused to do anything about them.

For debate:

Is morality handed down from on high, as a black and white proposition, or is morality subject to the uncounted variables that form the fabric of life as we know it?

[William]

[Replying to post 1 by Talishi]

Is morality handed down from on high, as a black and white proposition, or is morality subject to the uncounted variables that form the fabric of life as we know it?

Morals?

God=Good Devil=Evil

Who gets to decide?

You do.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 11 by William]

Is morality handed down from on high, as a black and white proposition, or is morality subject to the uncounted variables that form the fabric of life as we know it?

Morals?

God=Good Devil=Evil

Who gets to decide?

You do.

____________

Question:

• 
  
  Aren't God and Devil anthropomorphic metaphors for good and evil?
  
  

____________

[William]

[Replying to post 11 by William]

Is morality handed down from on high, as a black and white proposition, or is morality subject to the uncounted variables that form the fabric of life as we know it?

Morals?

God=Good Devil=Evil

Who gets to decide?

You do.

____________

Question:

• 
  
  Aren't God and Devil anthropomorphic metaphors for good and evil?
  
  

____________

Who gets to decide?

You do.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 13 by William]




[center]
I usually ask questions to other people, as I know my own answers[/center]

____________

Question:

• 
  
  Aren't God and Devil anthropomorphic metaphors for good and evil?
  
  

____________

Who gets to decide?

You do.

____________

Question:

• 
  
  I didn't ask who gets to decide. I know that we all get to decide.
  
  What do you say about the question?
  I wasn't asking myself.
  
  

____________

[William]

Question:
What do you say about the question?

My answer to the question "Who gets to decide? "

A: I do.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 15 by William]



[center]
Still missing the actual question that I asked
[/center]

My answer to the question "Who gets to decide? "

A: I do.

I got that... we all decide what we want to decide.
I decide what I want to decide, and YOU decide what you want to decide.
Isn't autonomy great that way?

Thanks for answering your own question a few times.

Now how about you answer the question that i asked you?
Here, just in case you missed it, I repeat it below:

____________

Question:

• 
  
  Aren't God and Devil anthropomorphic metaphors for good and evil?
  
  

____________

[William]

[Replying to post 15 by William]



[center]
Still missing the actual question that I asked
[/center]

My answer to the question "Who gets to decide? "

A: I do.

I got that... we all decide what we want to decide.
I decide what I want to decide, and YOU decide what you want to decide.
Isn't autonomy great that way?

Thanks for answering your own question a few times.

Now how about you answer the question that i asked you?
Here, just in case you missed it, I repeat it below:

____________

Question:

• 
  
  Aren't God and Devil anthropomorphic metaphors for good and evil?
  
  

____________

Oh - are you saying that my answer didn't answer your question? Why do you think that is the case, can you explain?

[Wootah]

[Replying to post 10 by Blastcat]

I'm not sure I agree that I am merely looking into the bible for answers. However the sermon on the mount did influence my thinking.

All I did was point out that there is a difference between the moral and legal view of what happened.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 17 by William]

Oh - are you saying that my answer didn't answer your question? Why do you think that is the case, can you explain?

That's precisely what I'm saying, William.
I'm asking for your opinion, not who gets to decide your opinion.

[William]

[Replying to post 17 by William]

Oh - are you saying that my answer didn't answer your question? Why do you think that is the case, can you explain?

That's precisely what I'm saying, William.
I'm asking for your opinion, not who gets to decide your opinion.

Well I gave my answer. Sure, you can call it an opinion if you want to.

So why do you think my answer didn't answer your question?

I think my answer was adequate in relation to your question.

Q: Is morality handed down from on high, as a black and white proposition, or is morality subject to the uncounted variables that form the fabric of life as we know it?

A: God=Good Devil=Evil

Who gets to decide?

You do.

From my answer, your further - now rhetorical question:

RQ: Aren't God and Devil anthropomorphic metaphors for good and evil?

Again, my answer is the same:

A: Who gets to decide?

You do.

If your question had been worded;

"Are God and Devil anthropomorphic metaphors for good and evil? " I might have had a different answer.