[Faith-talk] Moral Nihilist: The Intellectually Honest Atheist

[Poppa Bear]

Here is some more on morality, after the section I will post the link which
is much more extensive if anybody would like to read further. Morality and
ethics[edit]
See also: Sittlichkeit
Ethics (also known as moral philosophy) is the branch of philosophy which
addresses questions of morality. The word 'ethics' is "commonly used
interchangeably with 'morality' ... and sometimes it is used more narrowly
to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition, group, or
individual."[6] Likewise, certain types of ethical theories, especially
deontological ethics, sometimes distinguish between 'ethics' and 'morals':
"Although the morality of people and their ethics amounts to the same thing,
there is a usage that restricts morality to systems such as that of Kant,
based on notions such as duty, obligation, and principles of conduct,
reserving ethics for the more Aristotelian approach to practical reasoning,
based on the notion of a virtue, and generally avoiding the separation of
'moral' considerations from other practical considerations."[7]
Descriptive and normative[edit]
. In its descriptive sense, "morality" refers to personal or cultural
values, codes of conduct or social mores. It does not connote objective
claims of right or wrong, but only refers to that which is considered right
or wrong. Descriptive ethics is the branch of philosophy which studies
morality in this sense.
. In its normative sense, "morality" refers to whatever (if anything) is
actually right or wrong, which may be independent of the values or mores
held by any particular peoples or cultures. Normative ethics is the branch
of philosophy which studies morality in this sense.
Realism and anti-realism[edit]
Philosophical theories on the nature and origins of morality (that is,
theories of meta-ethics) are broadly divided into two classes:
. Moral realism is the class of theories which hold that there are true
moral statements that report objective moral facts. For example, while they
might concede that forces of social conformity significantly shape
individuals' "moral" decisions, they deny that those cultural norms and
customs define morally right behavior. This may be the philosophical view
propounded by ethical naturalists, however not all moral realists accept
that position (e.g. ethical non-naturalists).[8]
. Moral anti-realism, on the other hand, holds that moral statements either
fail or do not even attempt to report objective moral facts. Instead, they
hold that moral sentences are either categorically false claims of objective
moral facts (error theory); claims about subjective attitudes rather than
objective facts (ethical subjectivism); or else not attempts to describe the
world at all but rather something else, like an expression of an emotion or
the issuance of a command (non-cognitivism).
Some forms of non-cognitivism and ethical subjectivism, while considered
anti-realist in the robust sense used here, but are considered realist in
the sense synonymous with moral universalism. For example, universal
prescriptivism is a universalist form of non-cognitivism which claims that
morality is derived from reasoning about implied imperatives, and divine
command theory and ideal observer theory are universalist forms of ethical
subjectivism which claim that morality is derived from the edicts of a god
or the hypothetical decrees of a perfectly rational being, respectively.
Anthropology[edit]
Tribal and territorial[edit]
Celia Green made a distinction between tribal and territorial morality.[9]
She characterizes the latter as predominantly negative and proscriptive: it
defines a person's territory, including his or her property and dependents,
which is not to be damaged or interfered with. Apart from these
proscriptions, territorial morality is permissive, allowing the individual
whatever behaviour does not interfere with the territory of another. By
contrast, tribal morality is prescriptive, imposing the norms of the
collective on the individual. These norms will be arbitrary, culturally
dependent and 'flexible', whereas territorial morality aims at rules which
are universal and absolute, such as Kant's 'categorical imperative' and
Geisler's graded absolutism. Green relates the development of territorial
morality to the rise of the concept of private property, and the ascendancy
of contract over status.
	

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality
-----Original Message-----
From: Faith-talk [mailto:faith-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Brandon
A. Olivares via Faith-talk
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2014 9:38 AM
To: Faith-talk, for the discussion of faith and religion
Subject: [Faith-talk] Moral Nihilist: The Intellectually Honest Atheist

Hello,

Found this video on Youtube today. It closely aligns with my own feelings on
morality. So I wanted to put it out there to get a discussion going on this
topic: is there such thing as objective morality?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzfDIewPFb0 

Peace,
Brandon
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