Godless Morality

People have always told me that I can't be moral because I don't necessarily believe in a god. Well, hate to break it to you, but most of the moral systems since the 18th century have been ones that do not mention, or require a divine entity.

If you find this interesting, and want to learn more, look for John Stuart Mill's 'Utilitarianism', Immanuel Kant's 'Metaphysics of Morals', and WD Ross's 'Foundations of Ethics'

The Music is Tan Dun: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - The Eternal Vow from Classic Yo-Yo.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• atheism
• morality
• moral theory
• godless
• ethics
• metaphysics
• religion

[TheBioethicist]

@mattetho you never told me where you teach. yeah, the uncertainty and the need to rely on induction [enter Hume] is another fatal flaw. The logical argument for utilitarianism is in the video. The way to produce the most happiness is to do the morally right action, so the morally right action is the one that produces the most happiness.

[TheBioethicist]

@mattetho yeah, that's exactly my point. I'm a deontologist.

[TheBioethicist]

@mattetho Um, okay, where do you teach philosophy? I'm curious now. In my opinion, the fatal error in utilitarianism is that it condones actions that go against our moral intuition for "the greater good" [see Watchmen] The bridge problem, the surgeon problem, the vaccine problem,things like that where the "right thing to do" would be to preserve the lives of the many, but involve actively taking the life of an innocent. It's not a logical flaw, it just leads to conclusions that are immoral.

[TheBioethicist]

@mattetho Mill is logically sound, actually. But the Nazi comment is out of nowhere, I think. They might have BELIEVED what they were doing was promoting the greatest sum total of happiness, but every contemporary moral theorist of whom I know would disagree, utilitarians included.

I agree that Utilitarianism is flawed, however, your reasoning is... spotty.