<<Perhaps I did misunderstand. However, it seemed that you were more than a
little bent on describing how the theory of evolution can be used to "justify"
racism. This seems a rather pointless exercise, since many things can be used
to justify racism if distorted sufficiently. What exactly are you trying to
prove?>>
I don't agree with you that "many things" can justify racism. Why don't you
list a few examples? When you do, you'll see that they are merely subsets of a
larger world view. That's what I'm trying to prove.
JB <Please explain to me WHY "consciousness" gives anyone a
>"right" to anything.
RS <<Because it does.>>
Well, I couldn't have asked for a clearer demonstration of my central thesis
than this! I ask a philosophical question, and get "because it does" in
return. No offense, but any five-year-old knows this is a non-argument that
gets nowhere with mom or dad. "Because it does"? Let's play with that awhile.
Q. Mr. Hitler, why does your system give you the right to genocide?
A. Because it does.
Q. Mr. Bundy, why do your beliefs give you the right to kill co-eds?
A. Because they do.
Q. Mr. Simpson, how can you deny guilt in the face of overwhelming evidence?
A. Because I can, man.
See how it works? I've told you your system is subjective, and therefore not
transcendent or applicable to anyone but yourself. You have answered only with
"because it does." Well, EVERYONE can make that argument, even when the system
is the exact opposite of yours. And you are powerless to put up an argument
against them.
That's the whole point. Now, I am personally glad you have borrowed moral
capital and have used it to purchase what looks like a sound moral system. But
it is going to show up on your credit report.
<<OK, then, let me ask you this: If you did not believe that there was a
God, would you be motivated to behave in what you consider a moral way?>>
I honestly don't know. I would be a profoundly different person. Remember
Dostoevsky's dictum: "If God does not exist, then anything is permissible."
<<So what? Morality can come from other sources>>
YES!
<<and they don't have to be
supra-natural ones, as I have demonstrated.>>
NO! "Because it does" is not a demonstration.
<<You're the one mixing apples and oranges, by trying to extract moral codes
from a scientific theory.>>
Ex-squeeze me? I'm doing precisely the opposite, showing you the futility of
extracting a moral code from a scientific theory.
<<So you truly believe that the Judeo-Christian belief system is the only one
that can teach people to care for one another? Are you really that ignorant?>>
Ouch, there's that vituperation again. I never said this, of course. I only
said that is probably where you are borrowing from, even though you don't know
it. Well, now you know it.
Jim
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"Man is more ape than many of the apes." -- Friedrich Nietzsche
"Nietzsche was stupid and abnormal." -- Leo Tolstoy
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