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Author Topic:   The moral implications of evolution, and their discontents.
bluescat48
Member (Idle past 4219 days)
Posts: 2347
From: United States
Joined: 10-06-2007


Message 4 of 124 (438436)
12-04-2007 4:29 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Chiroptera
12-04-2007 2:03 PM


It is my position that there are no moral, social, or philosophical implications to the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution is simply a description of observable phenomena, and the use of those phenomena to explain other observable phenomena.
I totally agree. I can't see where one would come up with such nonsense as moral, social or philosophica1 implications having any thing at all to do with evolution.

There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other

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Replies to this message:
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bluescat48
Member (Idle past 4219 days)
Posts: 2347
From: United States
Joined: 10-06-2007


Message 60 of 124 (439140)
12-07-2007 1:33 PM
Reply to: Message 59 by LucyTheApe
12-07-2007 1:15 PM


Re: Are there consequences?
I don't know but I'd like to place a bet that most of these people are Materialistic and/or Greedy and/or Atheistic". Perfect products of evolution.
1. Evolution is descriptive. It can be immoral only if attempting to accurately describe nature is immoral.
2. Any morals derived from evolution would have to recognize the fact that humans have evolved to be social animals. In a social setting, cooperation and even altruism lead to better fitness (Wedekind and Milinski 2000). The process of evolution leads naturally to social animals such as humans developing ethical principles such as the Golden Rule.
3. Some bad morals, such as eugenics and social Darwinism, are based on misunderstandings of evolution. Therefore, it is important that evolution be taught well to negate such misunderstandings.
4. Despite claims otherwise, creationism has its own problems. For one thing, it is founded on religious bigotry, so the foundation of creationism, by most standards, is immoral.
5. Probably the most effective weapon against bad morals is exposure and publicity. Evolution (and science in general) is based on a culture of making information public.
6. Scientists are their own harshest critics. They have developed codes of ethical behavior for several circumstances, and they have begun to talk about a general ethics (Rotblat 1999). Creationists have nothing similar.
7. Some people feel better about themselves by demonizing others. Those people who are truly interested in morals begin by looking for immorality within themselves, not others.
References:
1. Rotblat, Joseph. 1999. A Hippocratic Oath for scientists. Science 286: 1475.
2. Wedekind, C. and M. Milinski. 2000. Cooperation through image scoring in humans. Science 288: 850-852. See also Nowak, M. A. and K. Sigmund, 2000. Shrewd investments. Science 288: 819-820.

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bluescat48
Member (Idle past 4219 days)
Posts: 2347
From: United States
Joined: 10-06-2007


Message 108 of 124 (439789)
12-10-2007 12:17 PM
Reply to: Message 107 by Chiroptera
12-10-2007 11:21 AM


Re: Hitler and evolution
no but some aholes like hitler used part of it to justify their insane ideas.Similarly he used the bible to justify persection of the jews.
Insane tyrants use any kind of source to justify their crap. If he understood evolution he wouldn't have thought there was an aryan race.

There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other

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bluescat48
Member (Idle past 4219 days)
Posts: 2347
From: United States
Joined: 10-06-2007


Message 114 of 124 (439828)
12-10-2007 3:50 PM
Reply to: Message 110 by macaroniandcheese
12-10-2007 2:59 PM


Re: Hitler and evolution
hitler wasn't insane.
Just what would your definition of insane be.
Is it sane for a leader to kill off all those in his party who disagrees with him. (party purge 1932)

There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other

This message is a reply to:
 Message 110 by macaroniandcheese, posted 12-10-2007 2:59 PM macaroniandcheese has replied

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