Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!laura From: laura@utzoo.UUCP (Laura Creighton) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Hitler and Moral Relativism (reply to Byron Howes) Message-ID: <5504@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Thu, 18-Apr-85 13:17:40 EST Article-I.D.: utzoo.5504 Posted: Thu Apr 18 13:17:40 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 18-Apr-85 13:17:40 EST Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 33 I agree that most people are not enlightened, but merely reflect the values of the time. Most people do not understand Newtonian physics, either though - I can't see that this is evidence one way or another. I think, though that you are committed to some sort of absolute morality when you write: Certain cultural traits or social structures increase stability and the ability of a society to ``survive'' so to speak. These will vary with the set of conditions under which that society exists. Such structures are passed on as long as a they remain viable. Dysfunctional traits wither and die. Thus you have a morality based on ``the things that increase stability and the ability of a society to survive'' are good -- and (presumably) ``the things that decrease stability and decrease the ability of the society to survive'' are evil. of course, this is not so useful when you meet someone who wants ``the one permanent and absolute truth on whether Birth Control is moral'', but I think that it is an absolute moral standard. Now, if you believe in ``human nature'' (whatever that is) it follows that there are certain patterns which are never going to be anything but dysfunctional - (say a soceity where the citizens all go on rampages on fridays and kill as many citizens as they can) and these can be labelled as ``unquestionable evils''. Anything which is never going to be anything but functional will make the ``unquestionable goods'' list. Do you think that after long study of ``what is human'' and ``what doe human societies do'' that it would be impossible to develop a better understandingof what these things are -- and perhaps some basic principals which could be referred to in the field of morality? Laura Creighton utzoo!laura References: <487@lll-crg.ARPA> <789@bunker.UUCP> <453@mcnc.mcnc.UUCP> <4651@umcp-cs.UUCP> <467@mcnc.mcnc.UUCP>