(If you think the answer is obvious do read on, you may then wish to reconsider that answer!)
How do we Talk About Morals?
- Manners & Morals Pt. 1 Human brains are highly developed to compute these, but can we survive the "pincer" attack on them occurring in our society
- Manners & Morals Pt. 2 We seriously need to re-assert moral rules! Hence also the need for the discussion in the following posts.
- Where do Morals Come From ? Pt. 1 ... the answer is not as obvious as you might think!
- Where Do Morals Come From ? Pt. 2 ... Still after that answer! Thinking point: My parable of the Cloth Merchant
- My Answer Pt. 1 Yes indeedy folks, I think I have an answer!
- The Cliffhanger Where to now ? .... there are two yawning chasms in my path
- How I climbed the rest of the cliff with no difficulty
- Off the Cliff on a Hang-Glider
- On the Other Hand, Maybe I should qualify that ! In a world of religious fanatics just how much can Christians legitimately try to make the laws of the land reflect their moral code?
- On second thoughts lets cross that bridge when we come to it Private morals is different to moral behavior for governments, judges, police, military etc acting in their official capacity. I will look at the personal first and tackle the official later!
- Ten Commandments. The significance of echoing the form of Hittite suzerainty treaties. The significance of NOT echoing Assyrian treaties.
- Guess what? being formatted as Treaty not Law Code the Ten Commandments don't have a 'use by' date: They give timeless principles that can be used to formulate the rules for specific times, cultures and situations! Clever of God, eh!
PS There was a long break between bloggs here because I was on holidays. I've come back with some additional ideas I want to work out before I go on with the Ten Commandments) - Ah, but just whose interpretation of the Bible do we believe? Before I look at some of the Ten Commandments I want to work through some problems in how we can form a usable moral rule from the Bible. This deals with the first common objection: People argue all sorts of things from the Bible"
- How can we trust the Bible as THE standard of Ethics ... Still Thinking ! Back blogging after another long break I still have this problem of whose interpretation we can believe. Is there a solution? I do hope so!
Let's Look at the old Ten Commandments
... Applied to War - The Ethics of War. Ten Commandments and the ethics of war
- Ethics of War Part 2. I come to the conclusion that the Church tends to espouse the spirit of the age rather than the Bible. So it has been pro-war when it should not have been and is now anti-war in a way that is quite out of tune with the Bible and common sense ethics of war part 2
- Is all Violence Bad? Social progressives started with a good idea but turned it out all wrong. There is a proper place for the use of armed, even lethal , force. Is all Violence Bad?
... Applied to Abortion - Abortion 1: Why I dare talk about it. Feminists say this debate is closed. I say they are wrong. In this post I explain why I dare raise this 'taboo' topic. abortion: why I dare talk about it
- Abortion 2: Facts and Fallacies. Do you remember abortion debate of the 60's & 70's ? I use rarely seen statistics to show that the emotive pro-abortion arguments were based on fallacies. abortion: facts and fallacies
- INTERLUDE: I find that academic philosophers have twisted the meaning of words as in George Orwell s "new-speak" to stop people even having terms to think the right ideas for moral discourse. moral new-speak: they've stolen our words
- Abortion 3: Abortion considered as "murder". I coin a phrase "Decalogue Rule". I look at how modern abortion practice stacks up against what the Bible calls murder. abortion as murder
- Another abortion lie unmasked: "If abortions are not legal, more women will die" they say: "No! they really won't" say the statistics. Safe legal abortions, a convenient lie
... Applied to Capital Punishment - Churches now condemn capital punishment, in past generations they supported it: Why? Can we find our moral compass in the Bible? Yes! Capital Punishment Pt.1
- Is capital punishment ever right? If not... end of story! ... If 'yes' then we can discuss details. I argue for "Yes" and go on to discuss the first of three reasons the Bible gives : Retribution. Is capital punishment ever right.
- Biblical reason No.1 for capital punishment: Deterrence. also a quick summary of the story so far on seeking a 'metaphysics of a groundwork for morals' reasons for capital punishment - deterrence
- Expunging communal guilt may be a strange notion to us but it features strongly in the Bible. Maybe there is a connection with the standards we promote as a society and the behavior of its members. If so we may be morally "accomplices before the fact" to their sins. Punishment is how communities expunge guilt
- Historic abuses of capital punishment: These are not valid arguments against it but they are certainly things to be remedied! This post looks at the problem of condemning the innocent.Historic Abuses - Condemning the Innocent
- In the not too distant past our societies executed people even for minor crimes. That is an evil we must take care not to repeat. Let the punishment fit the crime and forget not mercy
... 9th Commandment: No False Testimony - Perjury is trivialised in our society. This must change! A sound justice system is essential to society - truth in evidence is essential to dispensing justice. Plus mention of the modern problem of false forensic evidence. No giving False Evidence in Court
- Spreading false reports about people - it is just so easy with twitter and feacebook - and it is wrong! Spreading rumors is bad!
... 9th extended to discuss Liars & Truth tellers - Liars and Truth Tellers 1: Don't throw out your normal rules just because some charlatan finds a situation where it does not apply! Normal rules are still good for common situations! Common rules still work for common cases
- We really do know the difference between lying and telling the truth, even if we have tried hard to forget. We don't need a philosopher to define "true" or "lie" for us
- Discussion on Truth, lies and God. Biblical idea of truth is, like the ancient Greeks : "according with reality" but is richer by including concepts of faithfulness, reliability and acting in accordance with the highest conceivable morality. Truth Lies and God
- White Lies or the Plain Truth : I say "white lie" is an artificial and unnecessary fiction. Tweaking the definition of Truth to cover the complexities of human communication shows it was generally just honest people telling the plain truth.
- Telling the Truth: Hard Cases I argue that the answer to hard cases does not come from intellectually analyzing them. It comes in the split second the real world affords from a conscience that has been formed by habits of moral behaviour.
- Truth Telling & Multiculturalism : 2 problems here: a) the 'multicultural' movement did not tell the whole truth. b) some cultures think it is OK to lie to outsiders
- Truth lies & Nietzsche: explores two themes: Are we about to lose our scientific edge by putting ideology above facts? Are people doubly subjugated by lies and propaganda?
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