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pizzahut451 said:

God exists out of this universe. Any scienctifc laws of any kind that matter in this universe have absolutely no effect on God. A God can swim in fire and burn in water and fly on ground and walk on air


If something exists "out of this universe" and in no way follows the rules of physics as we know them, call it god or pixies or santa claus, it's useless to bring it to a discussion about biology and paleontology that is supposedly based on evidence rooted in the laws of physics.

Thus your god argument is either circular and logically weak (god's existence and role in creation comes from his defining properties) or basically irrelevant (god's existence and nature can ignore, defy, contradict the world as we know it, and thus everything is possible).

Once you accept the ultimate deus ex machina, everything could have been created 5 minutes ago including your brain and thoughts on the big bang and dinosaurs. Or everything could be an illusion fed to your mind by a malevolent genie, that could change the laws of physics at will tomorrow. But none of those theories are interesting because they add zilch to our understanding: they can come in infinite variants, none of which can be falsified.



"All you need in life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure." - Mark Twain

"..." - Gordon Freeman

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WereKitten said:
pizzahut451 said:

God exists out of this universe. Any scienctifc laws of any kind that matter in this universe have absolutely no effect on God. A God can swim in fire and burn in water and fly on ground and walk on air


If something exists "out of this universe" and in no way follows the rules of physics as we know them, call it god or pixies or santa claus, it's useless to bring it to a discussion about biology and paleontology that is supposedly based on evidence rooted in the laws of physics.

Thus your god argument is either circular and logically weak (god's existence and role in creation comes from his defining properties) or basically irrelevant (god's existence and nature can ignore, defy, contradict the world as we know it, and thus everything is possible).

Once you accept the ultimate deus ex machina, everything could have been created 5 minutes ago including your brain and thoughts on the big bang and dinosaurs. Or everything could be an illusion fed to your mind by a malevolent genie, that could change the laws of physics at will tomorrow. But none of those theories are interesting because they add zilch to our understanding: they can come in infinite variants, none of which can be falsified.

Are you.... Gordon Freeman ?



pizzahut451 said:
Armads said:
pizzahut451 said:
Armads said:
pizzahut451 said:
Armads said:

I'm sorry but I had to stop watching once I heard  "Finally we will examine one of the most accurate and trusted historical records known to man: The Bible" because I started shooting milk from my nose from an outburst of laughter. 

pizzahut451 said:

Well, i dont believe God created Earth, i believe he created the universe, so im not a creatonist i guess. But i sure as hell dont believe in a a bullshit, retarded made up theory known as Big Bang

Why wouldn't you believe in the big bang?  It's supported by tons of evidence and it doesn't even necessarily conflict with the worldview of a god-created universe.  If there can be a god in your mind, that god can start the universe with a bang I'm sure.

Because everything cant come out of nothing. And by nothing, i really mean nothing. No time, no natural process of any kind, no life, no ANYTHING. Or are you assuming that God created the Big Bang which created the universe?

I don't assume a god at all personally.  But you say that existence could not have come out of nothing, but why should a god be able to? 

For there to be a god to create the universe one of two things must be true 1) God came into existence from nothing and created the universe or 2) God has always existed and created the universe

If you assume the argument of (1) then the argument is self defeated because one must ask what created god?   and what created that creator? and it's creators creator?  It goes on forever.  If in argument (1) you assign god the property of being able to spontaneously exist from nothing then the argument again is self defeating.  If you can assign that property of spontaneous existnece to a god why not the universe?

For the second argument (2) you must ask the same question, if one can assume god has always existed then why can one not assign the same property of eternal existence to the universe?  This is the position I hold, that the universe is eternal but has no creator.  The big bang is not the beginning of time (as any physicist will tell you, it's the beginning of our universe, not of all existence) but merely a point in time from which all previous events have no meaning.  Anything that happened before the big bang does not affect what happened after it, thus the beginning of our universe, our time. 


I support the 2nd argument. Look up for the link i posted where it explains why universe cant be eternal


That website hardly provides a credible argument against an eternal universe.  It starts off with 1) The big bang.  I already detailed why the big bang is not the creation of the universe without detail, but I can go farther into detail if you'd like but the point is simple.  The big bang is not the creation of the universe, it's the beginning of our universe, it's merely an event from which everything that happened before such a time has no effect on what happened afterSo it's first supporting evidence is actually a theory which undermines it's own argument.  Off to a good start!

It's second piece of supporting evidence is the abudance of hydrogen...not much to be said about this one because it really doesn't prove anything.  They say that because stars constantly convert hydrogen to helium and that there's no reversible process (which probably isn't a true statement anyways, it's more likely that we don't know if there is no reversible process) along with the continuing abundance of hydrogen suggests that a creator is pumping more hydrogen in our universe to keep it going.  This argument really has not ground to stand on, it doesn't even have feet really.  There is no more hydrogen in the universe observed now than at any time before so there is no reason to assume there is more hydrogen now than in an earlier time of the universe.  So the argument itself quickly falls apart, there's just a lot of hydrogen in the universe, it's not growing by anyone's measurements though.

Then finally it says the irreversible decay of the universe in which they are using the second law of thermodynamics to try an insert the need for a creator into the universe.  This is a bit of a tricky little paragraph they've put together here, not in that it's hard to decipher but in that it's meant to mislead. 


"The second law of thermodynamics says that while the total amount of energy remains constant (the first law), the availability of usable energy in the universe is constantly declining (the second law). Apart from the intervention of a supernatural agent (God), the stars would have burned out and the universe would have run down like a clock with no one to wind it back up. The logical conclusion is that it cannot be true that an infinite amount of time has passed because the universe would have reached a cold and lifeless state of absolute equilibrium."

 

The wording deliberately implies that the second law of thermodynamics states that a supernatural agent is the only thing keeping the world running. Also there is so much wrong with this belief that I don't even know where to begin but I suggest you do some more research on the laws of thermodynamics.  This website seems like it was written by someone who glosssed over scientific texts looking for things they could manipulate to their aim, a great degree of cognitive dissonance must have been required to read up on the laws of thermodynamics and deliberately ignore the parts that didn't help them. From wikipedia

"In sciences such as biology and biochemistry the application of thermodynamics is well-established, e.g. biological thermodynamics. The general viewpoint on this subject is summarized well by biological thermodynamicist Donald Haynie; as he stated that, "any theory claiming to describe how organisms originate and continue to exist by natural causes must be compatible with the first and second laws of thermodynamics."[25]}}"

 

Really you should read the whole wiki on the second law of thermodynamics at the very least.  Some good books for beginners on the subject of cosmogny and phsyics I would reccommend are A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, The Universe: From flat earth to quasars by Isaac Asimov, and Cosmos by Carl Sagan.

After it's first three points the website goes on and shows how little it's writer understands the scientific theories it uses as evidence.  They even use the underhanded tactic of taking quotes out of context such as the one from Hawking on the Anthropic principle.

Oh and anyone giving you the argument "irreducable complexity" doesn't know what they're talking about.  There isn't a single shred of evidence supporting that argument and a truckload against it.

1) But nothing could have happend before Big Bang because there was no time before the Big Bang.Time is the part of the universe which Big Bang apperantly started. If there was a Big Bang, TIME WAS CREATED IN IT. And God is timless. So the only thing that can create time (and thus create the universe) is GOD, because he is timeless and has time has no effect on him.

I've already told you that's not true.  The big bang wasn't the creation of time, it was the beginning of the time we live in.  There was time before the big bang, third time I've said it I believe.  We can never know what happened before the big bang but we know that things could have happened.  Also to attribute timelessness to god for no reason but not the universe is not logical as I already pointed out twice.

2) Now, i cant say much about their second piece of evidence, because, honestly, i didnt understood it myself. It was the other parts of evidence that convinced me that God created the universe. Im not gonna try to disporve your point here, because i dont know crap about hydrogen and that kind of stuff. You win here.

3) You only talked about their first 2 points. Can you please redirect me on where you debunked their 3rd suporting point and the rest of their points?

I didn't discuss it myself but I did show a quote and told you to read the wiki article on the second law of thermodynamics and I didn't provide a link.  But basically the law states that in a closed system entropy (or decay/disorder) can never decrease and the link you provided says life is not decay so it defies this law.  This is actually it's most reasonable argument but still wrong.  The law applies to closed systems, and while the universe we inhabit is indeed closed the place we call earth would be classified as a sub-system.  The law doesn't state that randomly interacting sub-systems also follow the same rule.  Thus there is no breaking of the second law of thermodynamics whenever life and evolution take place.

 

For more information about this argument on God and beginning of the universe you can look up on the debate between Dr. William Lane Craig, a Christian philosopher and atheist Dr. Bill Cooke. These guys know a lot more about this kind of stuff than you and me.

http://www.rfmedia.org/RF_audio_video/Other_clips/New-Zealand-08/Is-God-a-Delusion-Craig-v-Cooke.php

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/thermo/probability.html

That link is about the second law of thermodynamics.  I can't watch the video right now becuase my girlfriend is sleeping behind me (I got up for work today but it turns out they wanted me to come in next monday) but I'll get to it later.



WereKitten said:
pizzahut451 said:

God exists out of this universe. Any scienctifc laws of any kind that matter in this universe have absolutely no effect on God. A God can swim in fire and burn in water and fly on ground and walk on air


If something exists "out of this universe" and in no way follows the rules of physics as we know them, call it god or pixies or santa claus, it's useless to bring it to a discussion about biology and paleontology that is supposedly based on evidence rooted in the laws of physics.

Thus your god argument is either circular and logically weak (god's existence and role in creation comes from his defining properties) or basically irrelevant (god's existence and nature can ignore, defy, contradict the world as we know it, and thus everything is possible).

Once you accept the ultimate deus ex machina, everything could have been created 5 minutes ago including your brain and thoughts on the big bang and dinosaurs. Or everything could be an illusion fed to your mind by a malevolent genie, that could change the laws of physics at will tomorrow. But none of those theories are interesting because they add zilch to our understanding: they can come in infinite variants, none of which can be falsified.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qdKbtCZZjM ignore the inception part :)



"They will know heghan belongs to the helghast"

"England expects that everyman will do his duty"

"we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender"

 

WereKitten said:
pizzahut451 said:

God exists out of this universe. Any scienctifc laws of any kind that matter in this universe have absolutely no effect on God. A God can swim in fire and burn in water and fly on ground and walk on air


If something exists "out of this universe" and in no way follows the rules of physics as we know them, call it god or pixies or santa claus, it's useless to bring it to a discussion about biology and paleontology that is supposedly based on evidence rooted in the laws of physics.

Thus your god argument is either circular and logically weak (god's existence and role in creation comes from his defining properties) or basically irrelevant (god's existence and nature can ignore, defy, contradict the world as we know it, and thus everything is possible).

Once you accept the ultimate deus ex machina, everything could have been created 5 minutes ago including your brain and thoughts on the big bang and dinosaurs. Or everything could be an illusion fed to your mind by a malevolent genie, that could change the laws of physics at will tomorrow. But none of those theories are interesting because they add zilch to our understanding: they can come in infinite variants, none of which can be falsified.

Truth Bomb: (n.) A fact or piece of knowledge that, when told to a listener, is devastating to the listener's argument or world view.



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Slimebeast said:

Because the cannibals are wrong of course. Duh.

Edit: Holy crap, wall of text :/

Lost the track of time and length, actually just lost an exam beacuse of this. God, sometimes I hate the internet.

Anyway, sorry for the lenght of it :P


I know I'm quoting from a couple pages back, but it seem this is the backbone of your argument.

I mean, you're saying there are absolute morals, that are intrinsically right. And when people show there are other cultures who disagree with your morals, you defend your position by saying "they are wrong".

Now, I'm not sure you notice it, but you're basically saying you're right because you're right.

There are absolute morals because my morals* are absolutely right. And my morals are right because they are. So there are absolute morals because there are.

*- or a subset of morals I'm not entirely aware of but which includes many of my morals -

Do you see it?

Sure, when you apply it to the extreme case like the murder cannibals, it's easy to make it sound "right". Of course doing that is wrong. Who could think otherwise? No one here, sure. But those guys did think so.

My point is, don't you realise those guys could use the same argument you used? Let's say some people, over there, are having this same discussion. One of them argues agains absolute morals and uses us as example. The other says, yeah, but they are obviously wrong. For them, the idea of our moral (on this matter) could be as outrageous and revolting as their is to us.

What exactly is the diference that makes your argument valid and "his" wrong? What makes you better? Is it because you're some kind of bastion of Truth? Why can't he feel the same? And, if you can apply the same argument for both sides, doesn't that show you the argument itself is invalid?

Now, before you ask, it doesn't mean I would be complacent to their practice. I have my opinion, and I believe I have every right to defend it whenever it concerns me, even if I can't quite prove my opinion is right at an absolute sense. I simply trust my opinion better, that's the reason for it to be my opinion after all.

Anyway, I actually think they are wrong because I don't believe people have souls you'll absorb by eating and both will turn into a better being or something like that, which I suppose is more or less their reasoning. You might think they are wrong because people do have souls, but you'll only cause these souls suffering by eating them. How can you be so sure you're right and they're wrong anyway?

Any of the groups may have any amount of objective (or objective-looking - for them) evidence to support their views, and in this sense believe they are indeed right, above an opinion. But of course you can't really be completelly sure.

Just as much as you could put yourself in a position of being objectivelly right as opposed to them by last couple of paragraph's reasoning, I could, by the same reasoning. see myself in the same position relative to you. But you'd argue against that, and say my "evidence" is no good. How's that different? Any of the three groups could position itself like that against any of the other two. Of course, since their conclusion looks so absurd for us, it's easy to dismiss that.

Point being that these morals aren't absolute in the sense that morals "passed down" (or provoked or inspired or whatever) by a superior, perfect being (which was the conclusion you were trying to draw, right?) should be. Better yet, my point is that even if we agree that those guys are wrong, there's no way we can derive a "God" from that or even ascribe a deeper, transcendental meaning to our agreement.

You could argue something like "see, they have different morals because they're basing their morals on a different subset of beliefs", sure. In a sense you might even be able to argue they feel it's wrong to cause suffering just for the sake of it and that that's the deeper moral universal among humans.

I'd say there's indeed a tendency for that, but then again, we're social animals. It makes complete biological sense if we have that kind of predisposition on some level. No sense invoking a superior being to explain that. Basically what you're saying is humans have some genetic resemblance between themselves. Don't think anyone is going to argue that. But our actual morals differ a lot. Even if people have a tendency to feel it's wrong to cause suffering just for the sake of it, most people don't feel so bad when there's personal gain involved, at varying degrees.

And how they vary. Someone might be ok to do it just for a bit of  sadistic pleasure while others might need much, much more. And in this sense that "basic moral" is so feeble and would allow such different outcomes that look mutually outrageous and unbearable that I am hard pressed to see anything so special about that.

Actually, it might be simplyfied even more to say people, even if at an unconcious (or partialy unconcious) level, balance the pluses and the cons of their actions for themselves and only take actions that seem positive on that light. That's your moral universal destiled. We're all assholes deep down. Cheers.

I think I kinda dragged it out too much, not sure it's as coherent as I'd like, but it should make sense :)

Also, this is really off-topic, ins't it? :P



Farmageddon said:
Slimebeast said:

Because the cannibals are wrong of course. Duh.

Edit: Holy crap, wall of text :/

Lost the track of time and length, actually just lost an exam beacuse of this. God, sometimes I hate the internet.

Anyway, sorry for the lenght of it :P


I know I'm quoting from a couple pages back, but it seem this is the backbone of your argument.

I mean, you're saying there are absolute morals, that are intrinsically right. And when people show there are other cultures who disagree with your morals, you defend your position by saying "they are wrong".

Now, I'm not sure you notice it, but you're basically saying you're right because you're right.

There are absolute morals because my morals* are absolutely right. And my morals are right because they are. So there are absolute morals because there are.

*- or a subset of morals I'm not entirely aware of but which includes many of my morals -

Do you see it?

Sure, when you apply it to the extreme case like the murder cannibals, it's easy to make it sound "right". Of course doing that is wrong. Who could think otherwise? No one here, sure. But those guys did think so.

My point is, don't you realise those guys could use the same argument you used? Let's say some people, over there, are having this same discussion. One of them argues agains absolute morals and uses us as example. The other says, yeah, but they are obviously wrong. For them, the idea of our moral (on this matter) could be as outrageous and revolting as their is to us.

What exactly is the diference that makes your argument valid and "his" wrong? What makes you better? Is it because you're some kind of bastion of Truth? Why can't he feel the same? And, if you can apply the same argument for both sides, doesn't that show you the argument itself is invalid?

Now, before you ask, it doesn't mean I would be complacent to their practice. I have my opinion, and I believe I have every right to defend it whenever it concerns me, even if I can't quite prove my opinion is right at an absolute sense. I simply trust my opinion better, that's the reason for it to be my opinion after all.

Anyway, I actually think they are wrong because I don't believe people have souls you'll absorb by eating and both will turn into a better being or something like that, which I suppose is more or less their reasoning. You might think they are wrong because people do have souls, but you'll only cause these souls suffering by eating them. How can you be so sure you're right and they're wrong anyway?

Any of the groups may have any amount of objective (or objective-looking - for them) evidence to support their views, and in this sense believe they are indeed right, above an opinion. But of course you can't really be completelly sure.

Just as much as you could put yourself in a position of being objectivelly right as opposed to them by last couple of paragraph's reasoning, I could, by the same reasoning. see myself in the same position relative to you. But you'd argue against that, and say my "evidence" is no good. How's that different? Any of the three groups could position itself like that against any of the other two. Of course, since their conclusion looks so absurd for us, it's easy to dismiss that.

Point being that these morals aren't absolute in the sense that morals "passed down" (or provoked or inspired or whatever) by a superior, perfect being (which was the conclusion you were trying to draw, right?) should be. Better yet, my point is that even if we agree that those guys are wrong, there's no way we can derive a "God" from that or even ascribe a deeper, transcendental meaning to our agreement.

You could argue something like "see, they have different morals because they're basing their morals on a different subset of beliefs", sure. In a sense you might even be able to argue they feel it's wrong to cause suffering just for the sake of it and that that's the deeper moral universal among humans.

I'd say there's indeed a tendency for that, but then again, we're social animals. It makes complete biological sense if we have that kind of predisposition on some level. No sense invoking a superior being to explain that. Basically what you're saying is humans have some genetic resemblance between themselves. Don't think anyone is going to argue that. But our actual morals differ a lot. Even if people have a tendency to feel it's wrong to cause suffering just for the sake of it, most people don't feel so bad when there's personal gain involved, at varying degrees.

And how they vary. Someone might be ok to do it just for a bit of  sadistic pleasure while others might need much, much more. And in this sense that "basic moral" is so feeble and would allow such different outcomes that look mutually outrageous and unbearable that I am hard pressed to see anything so special about that.

Actually, it might be simplyfied even more to say people, even if at an unconcious (or partialy unconcious) level, balance the pluses and the cons of their actions for themselves and only take actions that seem positive on that light. That's your moral universal destiled. We're all assholes deep down. Cheers.

I think I kinda dragged it out too much, not sure it's as coherent as I'd like, but it should make sense :)

Also, this is really off-topic, ins't it? :P

You pulled it out of context.

It's an arguing method, to reply like that. The background is that I felt Highwaystar hadn't gotten to the core point I'm discussing. And the background is also that he objected to my statement of objective morals being false. What's his evidence for objective morals being false? He simply demonstrates there are different cultures with different morals in history of mankind (as if I wasn't aware of that) and from that draws a conclusion that morals are culturally relative and can not be universal. In my opinion that was a poor argument. Btw here is Highwaystar's statement I replied to:

"I ask, how can two societies be so radically different in their moral code, and yet their morals be absolute? It's actually impossible."

But I never said that every person and every culture has a full understanding of the absolute moral code. I never said that all expressions of morals on our planet are absolute. Nothing like that.
(actually for my case I only need to show one strong example of universal morals, thus my drastic example of torturing babies in the thread)

My original statement in this thread (that Highwaystar objected to) was:
since most people have absolute morals (without knowing or admitting it to themselves) most people also believe in the supernatural.

(the logic of the second part of the statement goes something like this: absolute morals needs an external cause, or at least they make a strong argument for something supernatural like a God, aka "the moral argument" for the existence of God, which is an age-old argument).

Yes it's off-topic.



Slimebeast said:
Farmageddon said:
Slimebeast said:

Because the cannibals are wrong of course. Duh.

Edit: Holy crap, wall of text :/

Lost the track of time and length, actually just lost an exam beacuse of this. God, sometimes I hate the internet.

Anyway, sorry for the lenght of it :P


I know I'm quoting from a couple pages back, but it seem this is the backbone of your argument.

I mean, you're saying there are absolute morals, that are intrinsically right. And when people show there are other cultures who disagree with your morals, you defend your position by saying "they are wrong".

Now, I'm not sure you notice it, but you're basically saying you're right because you're right.

There are absolute morals because my morals* are absolutely right. And my morals are right because they are. So there are absolute morals because there are.

*- or a subset of morals I'm not entirely aware of but which includes many of my morals -

Do you see it?

Sure, when you apply it to the extreme case like the murder cannibals, it's easy to make it sound "right". Of course doing that is wrong. Who could think otherwise? No one here, sure. But those guys did think so.

My point is, don't you realise those guys could use the same argument you used? Let's say some people, over there, are having this same discussion. One of them argues agains absolute morals and uses us as example. The other says, yeah, but they are obviously wrong. For them, the idea of our moral (on this matter) could be as outrageous and revolting as their is to us.

What exactly is the diference that makes your argument valid and "his" wrong? What makes you better? Is it because you're some kind of bastion of Truth? Why can't he feel the same? And, if you can apply the same argument for both sides, doesn't that show you the argument itself is invalid?

Now, before you ask, it doesn't mean I would be complacent to their practice. I have my opinion, and I believe I have every right to defend it whenever it concerns me, even if I can't quite prove my opinion is right at an absolute sense. I simply trust my opinion better, that's the reason for it to be my opinion after all.

Anyway, I actually think they are wrong because I don't believe people have souls you'll absorb by eating and both will turn into a better being or something like that, which I suppose is more or less their reasoning. You might think they are wrong because people do have souls, but you'll only cause these souls suffering by eating them. How can you be so sure you're right and they're wrong anyway?

Any of the groups may have any amount of objective (or objective-looking - for them) evidence to support their views, and in this sense believe they are indeed right, above an opinion. But of course you can't really be completelly sure.

Just as much as you could put yourself in a position of being objectivelly right as opposed to them by last couple of paragraph's reasoning, I could, by the same reasoning. see myself in the same position relative to you. But you'd argue against that, and say my "evidence" is no good. How's that different? Any of the three groups could position itself like that against any of the other two. Of course, since their conclusion looks so absurd for us, it's easy to dismiss that.

Point being that these morals aren't absolute in the sense that morals "passed down" (or provoked or inspired or whatever) by a superior, perfect being (which was the conclusion you were trying to draw, right?) should be. Better yet, my point is that even if we agree that those guys are wrong, there's no way we can derive a "God" from that or even ascribe a deeper, transcendental meaning to our agreement.

You could argue something like "see, they have different morals because they're basing their morals on a different subset of beliefs", sure. In a sense you might even be able to argue they feel it's wrong to cause suffering just for the sake of it and that that's the deeper moral universal among humans.

I'd say there's indeed a tendency for that, but then again, we're social animals. It makes complete biological sense if we have that kind of predisposition on some level. No sense invoking a superior being to explain that. Basically what you're saying is humans have some genetic resemblance between themselves. Don't think anyone is going to argue that. But our actual morals differ a lot. Even if people have a tendency to feel it's wrong to cause suffering just for the sake of it, most people don't feel so bad when there's personal gain involved, at varying degrees.

And how they vary. Someone might be ok to do it just for a bit of  sadistic pleasure while others might need much, much more. And in this sense that "basic moral" is so feeble and would allow such different outcomes that look mutually outrageous and unbearable that I am hard pressed to see anything so special about that.

Actually, it might be simplyfied even more to say people, even if at an unconcious (or partialy unconcious) level, balance the pluses and the cons of their actions for themselves and only take actions that seem positive on that light. That's your moral universal destiled. We're all assholes deep down. Cheers.

I think I kinda dragged it out too much, not sure it's as coherent as I'd like, but it should make sense :)

Also, this is really off-topic, ins't it? :P

You pulled it out of context.

It's an arguing method, to reply like that. The background is that I felt Highwaystar hadn't gotten to the core point I'm discussing. And the background is also that he objected to my statement of objective morals being false. What's his evidence for objective morals being false? He simply demonstrates there are different cultures with different morals in history of mankind (as if I wasn't aware of that) and from that draws a conclusion that morals are culturally relative and can not be universal. In my opinion that was a poor argument. Btw here is Highwaystar's statement I replied to:

"I ask, how can two societies be so radically different in their moral code, and yet their morals be absolute? It's actually impossible."

But I never said that every person and every culture has a full understanding of the absolute moral code. I never said that all expressions of morals on our planet are absolute. Nothing like that.
(actually for my case I only need to show one strong example of universal morals, thus my drastic example of torturing babies in the thread)

My original statement in this thread (that Highwaystar objected to) was:
since most people have absolute morals (without knowing or admitting it to themselves) most people also believe in the supernatural.

(the logic of the second part of the statement goes something like this: absolute morals needs an external cause, or at least they make a strong argument for something supernatural like a God, aka "the moral argument" for the existence of God, which is an age-old argument).

Yes it's off-topic.

I also think there are some absolute morals (like not killing eachother), but that doesn't have anything to do with God whatsoever. Morals come from rationality (which, in most cases, is the absolute opposite of God).



Slimebeast said:

You pulled it out of context.

It's an arguing method, to reply like that. The background is that I felt Highwaystar hadn't gotten to the core point I'm discussing. And the background is also that he objected to my statement of objective morals being false. What's his evidence for objective morals being false? He simply demonstrates there are different cultures with different morals in history of mankind (as if I wasn't aware of that) and from that draws a conclusion that morals are culturally relative and can not be universal. In my opinion that was a poor argument. Btw here is Highwaystar's statement I replied to:

"I ask, how can two societies be so radically different in their moral code, and yet their morals be absolute? It's actually impossible."

But I never said that every person and every culture has a full understanding of the absolute moral code. I never said that all expressions of morals on our planet are absolute. Nothing like that.
(actually for my case I only need to show one strong example of universal morals, thus my drastic example of torturing babies in the thread)

My original statement in this thread (that Highwaystar objected to) was:
since most people have absolute morals (without knowing or admitting it to themselves) most people also believe in the supernatural.

(the logic of the second part of the statement goes something like this: absolute morals needs an external cause, or at least they make a strong argument for something supernatural like a God, aka "the moral argument" for the existence of God, which is an age-old argument).

Yes it's off-topic.

I pulled it out of context to try and argue what I saw as the gist of your case, and because to properly quote the context I'd kind of have to quote several posts. No ulterior motive :P

Anyway, you were the one saying there are moral absolutes, you should be the one providing evidence :P

What I tried to argue could be divided in trhee main points. First that you can't really act like you know right and wrong on an absolute sense better then anyone else, which you did by stating those crazy guys were simply wrong when answering to Higwaystar's position.

So his argument is valid to show that the stance on cannibalism isn't a moral universal, and your rebuttal can't logically go against that. Of course, even if that's not an moral absolute, that doesn't mean there's no such a thing at all, just means there's no one single, complete, absolute moral code. There may be a few moral concepts that are universal among humans, but there's not one complete, universal moral code which is "right". That's what he was arguing, and you can't prove him wrong.

Now second point follows and it is that, if there's some kind of moral absolute you can actually find, it's burried very deep down, and in most cases could be translated without much trouble as simple self-preservation, with the actual "moral codes" deriving from this so dsitinctic and varied one could argue about the usefullness of ascribing it such a tittle.

Anyway, the third point and more important point, which follows from the second, is that self preservation makes complete biological sense, so the fact we don't use to go around ripping baby genitallia off can't really be used as an argument for the supernatural, as there are other, natural explanations for that.

So yeah, I simply don't think you can go from some people's belief on some absolute truth and derive a god figure from that.