On Tue, 12 Oct 1999, Paul C. Smith wrote:
> I believe that there are universal rights and wrongs (and no, I have no
> idea what they are), but that we don't need to posit a divine conscious
> being to support those rights and wrongs (a supposition that would beg the
> question anyway). I believe that our chance of ever making progress
> understanding ethics depends utterly on our willingness to stop making the
> assumption that ethical standards are necessarily imposed by some kind of
> divine conscious being.
>
> So shoot me... :)
>
Never, Paul. Violence is just wrong. This note is more than just a
snappy reply, though. Through some coincidence, I have just this
minute stumbled across a recent on-line essay on this topic by the
great Edward O. Wilson (Atlantic Monthly, April, 1998. He asks:
"Do we invent our moral absolutes in order to make society workable?
Or are these enduring principles expressed to us by some transcendent
or Godlike authority? Efforts to resolve this conundrum have
perplexed, sometimes inflamed, our best minds for centuries, but the
natural sciences are telling us more and more about the choices we
make and our reasons for making them"
Like David, I've rushed this news to TIPS before I've had a chance to
read it (long article, anyway). But for anyone interested, it's at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98apr/biomoral.htm
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at:
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