Hi Ham, > [Platt]: > > Do you and Edington find the Holocaust immoral? If so, > > on what basis is your "value-sensibility" superior to Hitler's? > > That's a "mean" retort, Platt. Of course we find the Holocaust immoral. > Like all tyrants, Power was the ultimate objective of Nazi fascism, and this > end had greater value to Hitler than his means of achieving it. Exploitation > of the masses and elimination of "inferior" races may have served his > perverted cause, just as martyrdom and the senseless bombing of innocent > people serves the cause of Islamic extremists. > > Morality isn't even an issue when we allow power to become an obsession. The > quest for power not only corrupts one's ability to reason, it replaces all > other values in the process. In the Authentic Society I envision for > mankind, such atrocities will be unthinkable. When we understand that life > affords us the opportunity to realize the value of our essential source, and > that we are all agents of this source, morality will be viewed as rational, > self-directed value. Sorry if my question came across as "mean." It was a attempt to understand what you meant by morality being "relative." I see now by your answer that it doesn't mean "culturally determined" as postmodernists argue. If I interpret you correctly, morality derives from the value of the "essential source" and Edington's "Life Force" or "Spark of the Divine" which informs us that seeking power to serve perverted causes is wrong.
What I don't understand is why a Hitler or a Islamic extremist couldn't appeal to the same sources to justify the morality of their actions. In other words, just how does the "essential source" inform us of what is moral and what isn't? For example, does it inform us that all human life is sacred? If so, where does it stand on the question of self-defense? More to the basic question: how would we know the answers to such questions? Hope this doesn't come across as "mean," Ham. Certainly not intended as such. Regards, Platt Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
