Oolon Colluphid

I’d add the Greek mottos inscribed above the door of the temple of Apollo at Delphi -- ie somewhat pre-Christian as being useful aids to deciding moral things: gnothi seauton, ‘know thyself’ (one could argue that the Golden Rule flows from it), and meden agan, 'nothing in excess', which is is self-explanatory.

DT

Oxymoron

...and eat anything that tastes good, can't answer back and isn't tougher than me

In another thread, the vegetarian/omnivore debate simmers on. Morality doesn't just relate to human/human interactions, as responses on this thread seems to imply. There's a whole world full of inanimate, animate and sentient entities to interact with as well as the mentally and physically infirm, all with their own special moral mazes to navigate.

Jamie_L

Yes. Because life would pretty well suck without them.

Our internal moral compass, created as part of our upbringing and continually modified by our life experiences. I should point out this is virtually the same moral compass used by any theist. People pick and choose morals from their religion that suit their internal compass, not the other way around. This is why there are so many sects of every religion that disagree about morality, and disagree about which parts of the "holy texts" are right and which ones "don't apply anymore" or "shouldn't be interpretted like that". It's also why so many people claim to worship god X, but don't join a formal organization because they disagree with some of the teachings.

The morality of an individual theist is just as relative and subjective as that of an individual atheist. They just have texts to quote from to support their particular stances.

Jamie

braces_for_impact

Since I am an atheist, I have no morals. I cannot function in society. I say screw the meek, and charge in headlong, stepping on whomever gets in my way. I kill at random, rape, plunder, steal and destroy all while I laughing like an evil villain on crack. We have never given a single thought to ethics or morality, or their source. We are all atheists precisely because if it feels good, we want to do it and we want no moral standard higher than ourselves. We are easy to spot simply because we are all ravening lunatics who cannot function in society. A society has rules and we live by none. Thus, you will find most of us in prison because we are a danger to everyone and every thing around us.

Oh no wait, most people in prison believe in god, I forgot.

My bad.

Never mind all of that.

Jamie_L

Yes. Yes. I find I feel much better after I hurt someone than I do after I help someone.

Oh, no. Wait. I've got that backwards.

Jamie

Vorhis the Wolf

I use a slightly modified version of the golden rule: "Do unto others as they do unto you" A.K.A. treat your friends like friends and your enemys like enemys. As far as absolute morality goes, I dont think it exists. There is no set of moral standards that works for everyone. Part of that is because all morality is arbitrarily measured. Another part is that not everyone thinks the same way about the same things. Look at the death penalty for an example. In the U.S. we hang,electrocute and poison our people who have been sentanced to death. In the middle east they behead and stone them to death. We kill them, they kill them , but we call them "barbarians" simply because we disagree with their methods of execution. Morality works in the same way. Everyone else is wrong if they dont think and act like you do. I will take logic over "morals" and "ethics" any day.

Oolon Colluphid

That looks remarkably like the ‘answer’ to the games theorists’ Prisoner’s Dilemma... IOW it’s a good idea, and an Evolutionarily Stable Strategy.

DT

Mageth

I think there has been at least some reference to extrahuman ethics. I posited "Generate as little entropy as possible," for example, which implies an ethic of conservation of natural resources, among other things. Darwin's Terrior's 'nothing in excess' is a similar ethical rule.

Mageth

rubbercok3000:

I'm not sure if you're serious, and others have responded admirably, but here's my 2 cents' worth:

Kinda sucks that most here base there morals on what Jesus taught!!

Why would it suck? One can borrow one's ethics from any good source. After all, Jesus did.

So why not just possibly consider the fact that a good God inspired the golden rule?

I've read the bible, and remember many examples where God is portrayed as not following the Golden Rule. So I've chosen not to follow his example.

Hell your already prescribing to a religious ethical standpoint, why not just enjoy the fruits of your labor and call out to a deity when your alone sometimes?

Why, just the other day, I stubbed my toe and called out "GODDAMMIT!" Does that count?

Whats it gonna hurt?

Probably wouldn't hurt a damn thing. Wouldn't help either, since there's no deity out there to hear me.

avalanche:ix

the only 'absolute' moral value i have a subscription to is:

do what you want as long as it doesn't directly fuck with people. unless they want to ofcourse.


that means most people outside this country consider me completely depraved and immoral though. tough.