Eckhart Aurelius Hughes wrote: ↑December 27th, 2007, 4:26 pm
Morality originated from religion.
This seems to me an unjustified statement. "Religion" is an abstraction from particular religions which were founded or originated at specific times by specific people.
It seems to me that one has to believe that either:
A) somebodyor a few somebodies at some time first came up with the idea of morality as part of their religion, and everybody else got the idea by a chain of communication from that one or few founders, or
B) moral thinking is in some sense part of human nature, so that such ideas have occurred to multiple people in multiple different cultures.
Seems to me that the right answer is obviously B).
On the basis that as far as we know whenever anybody has crossed the sea and discovered another culture, they have found some form of morality as part of that culture. Even though that culture is ignorant of the traveller's own religion.
Such origins are of course lost in the mists of pre-history, but it seems reasonable to suppose that the unrecorded "first contacts" are similar to the more recent ones that we know more about.
For example, when a person says the moral statement, "eating dogs is morally wrong," they might mean the amoral statement, "eating dogs disgusts me."
If you're saying that some people sometimes say one thing and mean another, few would disagree.
But if you're saying that everybody who says
"eating dogs is morally wrong" necessarily means
"eating dogs disgusts me", then that is clearly false. It is perfectly possible to say without contradiction
"eating dogs disgusts me, but I don't believe it to be morally wrong". Or conversely
"I experience no feelings of disgust at the thought of eating a dog but nonetheless consider it to be morally wrong because dogs are sentient".
You've stated "they might mean", implying that some do, but your conclusion
We can more clearly express ourselves by specifying what we mean in secular and descriptive ways, rather than in general moral terms."
only follows if all do, if anyone uttering a prescriptive moral statement "really" means a descriptive statement.
This seems a basic error.
For example, does someone who says
"Consider giving up morality" really mean
"You should give up morality" ?
It's quite possible that some might mean that, but that doesn't mean that the statement can only possibly mean that...
"Opinions are fiercest.. ..when the evidence to support or refute them is weakest" - Druin Burch