Quote:
Originally Posted by cardboard adolescent
i want to take a few steps back from this argument. i can probably concede that morality is something innate in people, or at least something which forms deterministically in their relating to other people. but i also think 'evil,' seen as the desire to propagate suffering, is also innate in people. that because of this, some people need different ways of validating their better half or suppressing their lesser. the temptation to then institutionalize these methods is very tempting, and the fact that a little bit of both sides slips in is inevitable. at the same time though in religion there's something else going on, which is a more fundamental analysis of man in relation to the world, which you have to analyze on a separate level. how does that sit with you?
|
I can agree with this much more. However, I don't think it's often very difficult to validate good behavior over bad. On the one hand, good behavior seems to by default give us satisfaction, because we do have an innate sense of right and wrong. This is just another component of our built-in sense of morality. In many or most cases, I think this is validation enough. On the other hand, wrong often turns us away from itself, as it gives us a sense of guilt rather than satisfaction. So doing the "right" thing has almost everything going for it: we feel good when we do right, and we feel guilty when we do wrong. I do agree that institutionalizing these methods is very tempting, and I imagine we'd agree that this is one of the more dangerous impulses we seem to have. Religion acts, in my opinion, to justify hideous acts with validation from a so-called God. Not all of it is bad, but that's why it has appeal in the first place: not only does it claim to answer questions that we all have wondered about, it also seems to demand good behavior which we already know to adhere to. But unfortunately, once we believe that God is on our side, there is little left keeping us from acting upon our desire to propagate suffering, which has very clearly permeated every major religion.