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Author | Topic: How do we tell right from wrong? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SHEKINAH Junior Member (Idle past 3478 days) Posts: 8 Joined: |
If evolution is true, how do we tell right from wrong?
Edited by Admin, : Correct spelling.
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Admin Director Posts: 12653 From: EvC Forum Joined: Member Rating: 2.9 |
Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.
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AdminNosy Administrator Posts: 4754 From: Vancouver, BC, Canada Joined: |
Welcome to EvC, Shekinah! There is lots to learn here and maybe a bit of fun too.
We use the Proposed New Topic procedure to get discussions off on the right foot. Generally an OP (opening post) has to make the scope of the debate clear and get it started by stating the authors point of view. I don't see how any one can discuss this until you show how evolution if connected to right and wrong. Then why it being true would make it hard to tell right from wrong. This is going to be asked by someone very soon now so you should start working on your answer. Also there are some thread discussing morality that are active right now. You could read this over and see what has been said already.
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Huntard Member (Idle past 633 days) Posts: 2870 From: Limburg, The Netherlands Joined: |
Well, since evolution IS true, and we seem to be able to tell right from wrong, I don't think your question is logical.
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Coragyps Member Posts: 5414 From: Snyder, Texas, USA Joined: Member Rating: 6.0 |
And, Shekina, if you are contrasting evolution to religion, let me ask you one: If there are, say, 5000 different religions and 5000 different varieties of just one of those, each with different details of exactly what is right and what is wrong, how do we tell right from wrong?
Welcome to EvC!!!
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Dr Adequate Member Posts: 16107 Joined: Member Rating: 8.3 |
That varies from person to person. Presumably, for example, you have some way of distinguishing between the two. A little introspection would therefore seem to be in order --- how do you do it?
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Rahvin Member Posts: 3964 Joined: |
Evolution is not a moral guide - it's a scientific theory. It makes no statements regarding right and wrong, it's simply a model describing the continued and past diversification of life on Earth. Let me as you this: "If gravity is true, how do we tell right from wrong?" "If general relativity is true, how do we tell right from wrong?" The answer of course is that scientific theories are not moral guides at all. Evolution, gravity, and general relativity are all irrelevant to human morality. You can continue to derive your moral code from wherever you have been getting it thus far, be that a secular, nonreligious code of ethics, the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, or whatever your parents told you when you were growing up. Of course, if you're concerned that evolution disproves your religious beliefs, and that's the current source of your moral compass, don't worry - you aren't likely to become a hedonist or nihilist. Most people's religious faith survives acceptance of evolution, and even for those who lose their faith, there are sources of morality outside of religion, After all, do Atheists in general go on homicidal rampages? Certainly not, so clearly they must have a functioning moral compass without religion dictating it to them. So to answer your question:
The same way you have been all this time. Evolution's veracity is irrelevant to morality.
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bluescat48 Member (Idle past 2528 days) Posts: 2347 From: United States Joined: |
It is simple, think of anything you wouldn't want done to you, your family, your friends or your possessions, and that is what is wrong. There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other WT Young, 2002 Who gave anyone the authority to call me an authority on anything. WT Young, 1969
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Chiroptera Member Posts: 6833 From: Oklahoma Joined: Member Rating: 7.0 |
If evolution isn't true, how do we tell right from wrong? The answer is the same in both cases. It is basically the same answer as how we tell green from red. Our brains are wired in such a way that when our sensory apparatus brings us information about another person's actions, we get a reaction of "that is right" or "that is wrong". The evolution part is pretty easy to figure out. Going back to our distant ancestors, those whose brains had a better tendency to determine "right" from "wrong" were better able to live together in social groups, and those who lived in social groups were better able to leave behind surviving offspring. Hope this helps! Speaking personally, I find few things more awesome than contemplating this vast and majestic process of evolution, the ebb and flow of successive biotas through geological time. Creationists and others who cannot for ideological or religious reasons accept the fact of evolution miss out a great deal, and are left with a claustrophobic little universe in which nothing happens and nothing changes. -- M. Alan Kazlev
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onifre Member (Idle past 1289 days) Posts: 4854 From: Dark Side of the Moon Joined: |
Welcome to EvC Shekinah,
First, I would bet that none of the answers we will give you will satisfy because you are coming into the discussion not with an open mind but to prove your point about right and wrong. So perhaps you can tell us where you feel right and wrong comes from so we can know how to argue our position. You said, quote: With that statement alone I can tell your angle is not to understand the true nature of right and wrong, you are going to try and show how we can't know right from wrong without spiritual guidance, so, just tell us that and don't load a statement with "If evolution is right...". It is right, period. Here's an article out of Science Daily that deals with morality, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070517142545.htm quote: I hope you enjoy the article, perhaps you can focus more on what you feel is necessary for morality/knowing right from wrong/ good & bad etc, etc... Science has an extensive amount of research done on the subject so if one is taking a scientific stance then there are tons of papers to cite from, however, if you are presenting a spiritual angle then you'll have to show how the spiritual perspective is more plausable. --Oni Edited by onifre, : No reason given. "All great truths begin as blasphemies" "I smoke pot. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your mouth."--Bill Hicks "I never knew there was another option other than to question everything"--Noam Chomsky
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Deftil Member (Idle past 2793 days) Posts: 128 From: Virginia, USA Joined: |
We make judgements based on the values we feel are important. That's pretty much how everyone does it, regardless of their acceptance of evolution.
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Agobot Member (Idle past 3868 days) Posts: 786 Joined: |
So what is right and what is wrong? Is Osama Bin Laden right or wrong, considering he has supporters in the muslim world?
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Agobot Member (Idle past 3868 days) Posts: 786 Joined: |
The 10 commandments, but that still leaves a lot to be desired as there are a thousand interpretations of the Bible.
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Agobot Member (Idle past 3868 days) Posts: 786 Joined: |
We can't in the absolute sense. Only subjectively and relatively can we say something is right or wrong. There is no God and we are free, without guidance. It's your calling what you'd consider right and good
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onifre Member (Idle past 1289 days) Posts: 4854 From: Dark Side of the Moon Joined: |
Im right, you're wrong...try to argue against that sir. :D
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