[lit-ideas] Re: Inner Moral Law

  • From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2005 18:42:24 -0400

---- Original Message ----- 
From: 
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 7/31/2005 5:54:35 PM 
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Inner Moral Law


Really?  If it weren't against the law, 


A.A. This sentence invalidates the entire rest of your paragraph.  All these 
things are against the law. 


and no one would blink an eye, 


A.A. You're setting up a scenario that doesn't exist except in the Ku Klux Klan 
and other similar institutions, which today are against the law.  There was a 
time when such behavior was legal, and it was indulged in.  People took it upon 
themselves to hang fellow people from trees and so on and even had their 
pictures taken doing it.  Burned people at the stake, indulged in pograms and 
so on and so on.  As long as there was no law against it, it was done.  A moral 
inner sense didn't make any difference at all.



would you off the guy who pulled in front of you in traffic?  Rape your 
good-looking next door neighbor?  Kidnap that adorable baby that your barren 
wife wants so much?  Burn down buildings that offend you?


A.A.  I personally do have a well developed moral sense, and that's because I'm 
an atheist.  I don't like to see others hurt.  Many, perhaps most, are not as 
well developed as I.  In answer to your question, no, I would not act like a 
barbarian.



Julie:  I believe people without any sense of inner moral law are termed 
"sociopaths".


A.A. I believe you're right, and these people don't particularly care about the 
law.  It's why their behavior is considered aberrant and illegal.  They might 
in fact consider it a good deed to burn down an ugly building.  Their being 
guided by their inner moral sense doesn't help society at all.


Andy Amago



Julie Krueger

========Original Message======== Subj:[lit-ideas] Re: Inner Moral Law
Date:7/31/05 4:50:30 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From:aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent on:    


---- Original Message ----- 
From: 
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 7/31/2005 5:33:08 PM 
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Inner Moral Law



<<There is
a reason the Ten Commandments are called commandments>>

Just an aside here...... the Hebrew word that is translated into English as 
"commandments" also means "good deeds", more or less.  I mowed my neighbors 
lawn when her leg was broken;  that was a mitzvah (good thing, also 
commandment).  In Judaism people are expected/required by their Creator to 
strive to do the right things.  The Ten "commandments" are a breakdown of what 
that means in some fairly specific categories for those who are sloshing around 
in the mud looking for what "the right thing" looks like.



A.A.  Exactly my point.  Without concrete shalls and shall nots, people's moral 
compasses bog down real quick.  


Footloose and with compass needle spinning wildly, 
Andy Amago



Julie Krueger

========Original Message======== Subj:[lit-ideas] Re: Inner Moral Law
Date:7/31/05 4:24:00 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From:aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent on:    

> [Original Message]
> From: Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 7/31/2005 4:26:36 PM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Inner Moral Law
>
> Andy Amago wrote:
>
> "Therefore, it's the moral law that keeps society functioning, not the,
> still alleged, inner moral law."
>
> Where does this moral, or external, law come from?  The obvious
> paragraph for the Yanks begins with "We hold these truths to be
> self-evident ..."  If an inner moral law is only alleged, then the rest
> of the paragraph, and in fact the notion of law, is problematic.
>
>


Experience can teach us what works and what doesn't.  That which works over
time to enhance happiness becomes a self evident truth.  For example, way
back in the time of Moses sexua l rights were sorted out in the society's
best interests.  Likewise random killing could not be tolerated.  There is
a reason the Ten Commandments are called commandments, not appeals to an
inner sense of what's good.  I think none of the Declaration of
Independence is about morality.  Only about creating a climate that would
be conducive to the greater good of white men.


Andy Amago


> Sincerely,
>
> Phil Enns
> Toronto, ON
>
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