Continuing a look at the origin of reality…largely inspired and derived from George F.R. Ellis' brilliant brief book, BEFORE THE BEGINNING. He is NOT responsible, though, for the liberties I've taken with his logic or how I've chosen to illustrate it. Looking at some non-theological interpretations of materialism that are not as bleak as the existential crisis brought on by pure materialism… This is NOT to deny that evolutionary psychology (i.e. sociobiology) doesn't have some important truths to tell us, both in the animal kingdom and to the human experience. But deep down, even we don't believe it, in our heart of hearts. It's not a theist/nontheist thing. Some of the most moral people I know of are nontheists, like the late Isaac Asimov or the living Harlan Ellison. Indeed, many nontheists are outraged by what they perceive of a fictional God acting nonmorally—without realizing the very standards they hold God and others is mysterious in origin, a thing so close to us that we don't see how unexplainable it is. I hope I don't need to point out that I do NOT advocate a euthenasia program, either for low-IQ children or the senile. I'm just pointing out that the evolutionary imperative to eliminate the unfit is strangely absent in most cultures' sociology, despite its evolutionary logic. Those who devote their lives to helping others–without even kin-selection benefit—like Schweitzer, or Annie Sullivan spending her life bringing one individual, Helen Keller, to true intellectual flowering– are almost universally admired, despite any personal failings they might have. Why?
Occasionally we have cultures/societies that try to implement these frightening conclusions of materialist morality. Nazi Germany couched alot of their eugenics and extermination policies in pseudo-mystical terms but it's quite clear they intended only the very best worthy of life... And the rest of us find those cultures abhorrent! We humans do awful things, but the fact that we can change (governmental-institutionalized slavery is a looked at as a very bad thing these days) proves your points further...
KimLuster at 9:16AM, Nov. 17, 2014
I once pondered my understanding of 'the Good' and decided it was 'Good Enough'!
tupapayon at 4:46PM, Nov. 16, 2014
I have wondered before about our moral concepts... What is good? And why is it good?
KimLuster at 1:55PM, Nov. 16, 2014
Occasionally we have cultures/societies that try to implement these frightening conclusions of materialist morality. Nazi Germany couched alot of their eugenics and extermination policies in pseudo-mystical terms but it's quite clear they intended only the very best worthy of life... And the rest of us find those cultures abhorrent! We humans do awful things, but the fact that we can change (governmental-institutionalized slavery is a looked at as a very bad thing these days) proves your points further...