tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11224468.post115232750444009429..comments2024-02-15T07:19:24.972-05:00Comments on The Daily Doubter: Pray or dieUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11224468.post-1152431316618950612006-07-09T03:48:00.000-04:002006-07-09T03:48:00.000-04:00Here is the most concise summation of the issue fr...Here is the most concise summation of the issue from Plato's Euthyprho.<BR/><BR/>"Is that which is holy loved by the gods because it is holy, or is it holy because it is loved by the gods?"Hume's Ghosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13551684109760430351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11224468.post-1152412171423716972006-07-08T22:29:00.000-04:002006-07-08T22:29:00.000-04:00This is a fascinating area of philosophy to me. F...This is a fascinating area of philosophy to me. <BR/><BR/>First, Plato (or Socrates) realized that religion and morality are interdependent. A person could not, with good conscience, worship an evil god, so morality precedes belief in the supernatural (at least for those who think for themselves and don’t blindly accept the teachings of their parents or other authority figures).<BR/><BR/>Also, Bertrand Russell points this out well here:<BR/><BR/> …[T]he contention… is as follows. It would be a good thing if people loved their neighbours, but they do not show much inclination to do so; Christ said they ought to, and if they believe that Christ was God, they are more likely to pay attention to His teachings on this point than if they do not; therefore, men who wish people to love their neighbours will try to persuade them that Christ was God. <BR/><BR/> …In the first place, [people who think this way] are persuaded that it is a good thing to love your neighbour, and their reasons for holding this view are not from Christ’s teaching. On the contrary, it is because they already hold this view that they regard Christ’s teaching as evidence of His divinity. <I>They have</I>, that is to say, <I>not an ethic based on theology, but a theology based on their ethic</I>. [italics mine] From <I>Can Religion Cure Our Troubles</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com