Convict on 2/12/2007 at 04:59
Quote Posted by Swiss Mercenary
Murder. The
wrongful killing of another.
Ho ho ho.
Even the crackpot muslims or the Mayans who were practicing human sacrifice will agree with me on that one.
When is declaring war wrong? We are often influenced by just war theory but that's just us. Many cultures (especially tribes) liked (and still like) going to war to collect treasure and women. Take America for example.
EDIT: Should voluntary polygamy be allowed?
Swiss Mercenary on 2/12/2007 at 05:42
Quote Posted by Convict
Spearing was a traditional form of punishment. If a majority of Australian Aborigines decided (that is, even if you accept that democracy is mandatory for someone else's culture) that they wanted to continue to use (
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s283804.htm) spearing as a form of punishment, who are we - the so-called invaders - to tell them that they must accept our way and not allow their legal system?
Whether or not we have invaded them, or committed injustices against them is irrelevant, except in reminding us that we are far from infallible.
However, we are quite within our rights to condemn whatever irrational, or barbaric traditions as we see fit.
Whether we should do something about that is a whole other question. Oftentimes, taking action against it causes more harm then good.
Now, I hope that nobody here is going to tell me that the Indians were justified in particing Sati - the burning of widows that survived their husbands, simply by the virtue of it being a practice adopted by a society.
Muzman on 2/12/2007 at 05:43
Moral Relativism is being completely misused in this thread. It's a description as much as it is any sort of practice and as its reference to science suggests merely describes the notion that right or wrong or inbetween is a matter of ones frame of reference, making it hard to make concrete judgements when removed from a particular circumstance.
Saying that the Big Five Bad Things are universal across cultures and then calling it some evolutionary necessity kinda undermines itself. If you can rationalise it teleologially in terms of it being something that got us to where we are now that only begs the question of it being an ultimately irrational basis for any judgement now and is of little use. Really, being a moral absolutist doesn't make morality any less relative. And morality being relative doesn't make judgement impossible.
Convict on 2/12/2007 at 05:49
I don't necessarily believe in what I wrote above, however. Tossing up ideas.
DX-455 on 2/12/2007 at 11:30
Just from the thread title, I am guessing this is about the whole naming a class mascot Mohammed thing? Blew me away, but completely par for the course considering the source.
Papy on 2/12/2007 at 12:31
Quote Posted by Swiss Mercenary
Murder. The
wrongful killing of another.
Killing + (relative) moral values = (sometimes) murder.
How does that give an example of a universal moral value? Murder is defined according to moral values, it is not the basis of a moral value.
Swiss Mercenary on 2/12/2007 at 17:21
It's a universal moral value that people are not allowed to kill other people arbitrarily and at random.
I personally think that to be pretty important. It also happens to be shared by... Every society.
Tocky on 2/12/2007 at 18:20
Quote Posted by Convict
When is declaring war wrong? We are often influenced by just war theory but that's just us. Many cultures (especially tribes) liked (and still like) going to war to collect treasure and women. Take America for example.
Just so you know, my lack of ideology led me to be lazy about responding as well as the distraction of my harem spending the countrys deeply indebtedness. Nothing personal. I did, however, feel sorry for you when there was no amen from the choir. What is the world coming to?
Papy on 2/12/2007 at 21:12
Quote Posted by Swiss Mercenary
It's a universal moral value that people are not allowed to kill other people arbitrarily and at random.
I personally think that to be pretty important. It also happens to be shared by... Every society.
I think you should open a history book or at least what the evening news once in while. It is obviously NOT a universal moral value.
Swiss Mercenary on 2/12/2007 at 21:14
Please name some examples. Once you try, you'll soon notice that it's either not arbitrary, or not supported by the society.
