----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Pensinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2003 10:36 PM Subject: Re: No conflicts between selfishness and morality?
> Dan Minette wrote: > > > The point I was making was that people do the right thing because they > > believe in right and wrong. It doesn't have to be faith in God, but it is > > still faith based. By pointing out that these principals are just lies and > > myths, one is undercutting the community. > > > Faith has nothing to do with it, IMO. Cooperative behavior is > successful, that's why we are who we are. Saving lives is a > manifestation of cooperative behavior. Right, and raping and pillaging is an example of exploitive behavior. They are both part of human nature. Saving lives is good, raping and pillaging is bad. Now, I can't prove that; its a matter of faith for me. > What do lies and myths have to do with it? Because the reason people cooperate is, typically, because they share principals. For example, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." People have sacrificed their lives for these principals. It was not a matter of enlightened self interest. They believed them to be true. Now, obviously, they cannot be proven empirically. The question is, do you believe they are true, or not? Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
