A forum for discussion and clarification of philosophical issues relevant to class.
February 1, 2007
Problems for Divine Command Theory
The following is an excerpt from a documentary by Richard Dawkins, entitled The Root of all Evil. It deals with the relationship between religious scripture/authority and morality. It's very short, but provides a good deal of food for thought.
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10 comments:
Anonymous
said...
It’s funny that all these scientists and philosophers spend so much money and time discrediting the Bible and there are still people that follow it.
Sometimes people find it easier to believe in the bible than to question it. For instance you will find that many people who say they believe that the Bible is the Word of GOD.Are also the same people will also say that they don't believe in the death penalty,however in the old testament in Exodus 21 12-17 it clearly states what to do if a man kills another man. There are many areas of the bible that are considered morally in appropiate in todays society, but people just pick and choose the areas of the bible they like and fit there moral beliefs to follow and just forget about the rest of it.
Yeah, people still follow it because people are like sheep. Look in history, you can make "herds" of people do whatever you want because people always need to be told what to do.
It is true that EVERY religion contradicts itself in numerous ways, whether we are talking about Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. However, if you are using religion as a means to try to grasp a stronger view of reality, not for your moral or ethical beliefs, then religious teachings can have a lot to offer. The fact of the matter is that reality itself is indeed contradictory, and for all of the cynics out there, science definitely proves this fact, especially when we explore reality on the subatomic level. In numerous experiments, it has been found that subatomic particles will behave differently when the same experiments with the same conditions are repeated. For instance, Radioactive materials decay at varying rates, depending on the material. But in clinical experiments, scientists have found that the same material will decay at a different rate when no human is watching as compared to when a human is watching. When we watch, the materials decay at the rate which we expect it to, the rate that you will find in your everyday science textbook. But when a human is not watching and the decay rates are monitored by technology, all rules are thrown out the window, it becomes almost random. Its almost like if you watch a child, it will behave, but once the supervision is gone, the child will do whatever it wants. Other experiments dealing on the subatomic level have shown similiar results, whether we are dealing with electrons, neutrons, positrons, all the way down to quarks and smaller. This is only one example. Even logic itself supports contradiction in reality, because any logical argument that someone proposes can just as easily be refuted by another logical argument, which is why our class discussions always run around in circles. Logic only proves one thing, which is that anything you say can be true as long as you remain consistant throughout your argument. Does that really get us anywhere?
This is again one eprson's opinion and his interpretation. We all have our own beliefs and opinions but the principle is really about morals, values, and ethics. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Does this sound familiar? When you are tempted ot tormented about making the right choice, if people would think this first, then maybe we could have a better society.
Suppose that I am a masochist and enjoy pain. If I apply the golden rule of doing unto others as I would like for them to do unto me, then it would follow that I should cause them pain. When you think about it, this rule is based on a certain assumption about people, namely that they all would like the same things, but that's simply not realistic. If so, then how is this a good objective rule?
10 comments:
It’s funny that all these scientists and philosophers spend so much money and time discrediting the Bible and there are still people that follow it.
I do not understand why so much neg. energy is against god. Is it so bad to have faith in a spirit?!
Spirits do not harm....people/animals do!
Sometimes people find it easier to believe in the bible than to question it. For instance you will find that many people who say they believe that the Bible is the Word of GOD.Are also the same people will also say that they don't believe in the death penalty,however in the old testament in Exodus 21 12-17 it clearly states what to do if a man kills another man.
There are many areas of the bible that are considered morally in appropiate in todays society, but people just pick and choose the areas of the bible they like and fit there moral beliefs to follow and just forget about the rest of it.
Yeah, people still follow it because people are like sheep. Look in history, you can make "herds" of people do whatever you want because people always need to be told what to do.
It is true that EVERY religion contradicts itself in numerous ways, whether we are talking about Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. However, if you are using religion as a means to try to grasp a stronger view of reality, not for your moral or ethical beliefs, then religious teachings can have a lot to offer. The fact of the matter is that reality itself is indeed contradictory, and for all of the cynics out there, science definitely proves this fact, especially when we explore reality on the subatomic level. In numerous experiments, it has been found that subatomic particles will behave differently when the same experiments with the same conditions are repeated. For instance, Radioactive materials decay at varying rates, depending on the material. But in clinical experiments, scientists have found that the same material will decay at a different rate when no human is watching as compared to when a human is watching. When we watch, the materials decay at the rate which we expect it to, the rate that you will find in your everyday science textbook. But when a human is not watching and the decay rates are monitored by technology, all rules are thrown out the window, it becomes almost random. Its almost like if you watch a child, it will behave, but once the supervision is gone, the child will do whatever it wants. Other experiments dealing on the subatomic level have shown similiar results, whether we are dealing with electrons, neutrons, positrons, all the way down to quarks and smaller. This is only one example. Even logic itself supports contradiction in reality, because any logical argument that someone proposes can just as easily be refuted by another logical argument, which is why our class discussions always run around in circles. Logic only proves one thing, which is that anything you say can be true as long as you remain consistant throughout your argument. Does that really get us anywhere?
This is again one eprson's opinion and his interpretation. We all have our own beliefs and opinions but the principle is really about morals, values, and ethics. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Does this sound familiar? When you are tempted ot tormented about making the right choice, if people would think this first, then maybe we could have a better society.
Suppose that I am a masochist and enjoy pain. If I apply the golden rule of doing unto others as I would like for them to do unto me, then it would follow that I should cause them pain. When you think about it, this rule is based on a certain assumption about people, namely that they all would like the same things, but that's simply not realistic. If so, then how is this a good objective rule?
Good point....maybe one of these day sI will come up with something that you will not have an answer to.
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