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The Water Cooler
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Where do atheists get their morality?
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<blockquote data-quote="henschman" data-source="post: 2730003" data-attributes="member: 4235"><p>Well, I certainly don't get my morality from any philosophy which holds that human beings are universally evil for not being that which they cannot possibly be -- condemning man for failing to be not-man, as it were. And I don't ascribe to the idea that the paragon of morality is a creator who makes a flawed creation and then blames it for being flawed. </p><p></p><p>Morality concerns itself with "shoulding"... what should a man do? But to answer that, we have to concern ourselves with "being" -- what is the nature of man? It would make no sense to judge man by any standards other than those applicable to man... not rocks, or dolphins, or theoretical omnipotent, omnipresent beings. So what is man? Man is, first and foremost, an individual. You are in this all alone. You are the only one inside your head, and you are the only one who can direct your conscious actions. Man is also an organism -- he has survival requirements, and is influenced by chemicals, hormones, and emotions. However, man is unique among organisms in the power of his volitional consciousness. Man does not have any in-born survival skills -- rather, his only tool for survival is his mind. In order to survive, he must learn the requirements for his own survival, and direct his actions in accordance with those requirements. </p><p></p><p>More than just volitional consciousness, man is also capable of conceptual thought -- putting like things into categories, holding them in his mind, and referring to them to make sense of reality. One concept that all conceptually-thinking people have, whether they know it or not, is the concept of Self -- the abstracted idea of one's own life, consisting of one's knowledge of one's thoughts, decisions, and actions. Every thought, decision, and action is taken first by the Self, upon the Self -- it is recorded in the individual's consciousness as part of his own idea of who he is. Another of man's survival mechanisms is his ability to form a system of values -- a hierarchy of preferences. This value hierarchy is reinforced by an internal reward/punishment system that gives him a feeling of joy when he acts in accordance with values, and anguish when he acts against his values. Man's overall sense of joy or anguish is largely dependent on how much value he places on his Self -- how consistent his concept of his own life is with his values. </p><p></p><p>Now back to the question of what a man should do. I believe he should live a life of joy. After all, the only alternatives are either not living at all, or living a life of something less than joy. To live a life of joy, a man should choose values which are consistent with the conditions for his own survival. Anything less would lead to a very frustrating existence indeed. But man should aspire to do more than just survive -- he should strive to prosper. There are many more sources of joy to be found to enrich one's life beyond the necessities of survival. Above all else, a man should live in a way that leads him to love his Self as much as possible. Not much joy is possible to a man who does not love his Self. </p><p></p><p>But man chooses what to value -- and as one will no doubt notice if one observes the current state of humanity, it is absolutely possible for man to set his system of values against the requirements for his own life and prosperity, and against his Self, as with the many philosophies of "other-ism" which hold that a man should always put the interests of others before his own. This sort of value system leads to a frustrated existence in which the result of following one's chosen values are ruin and ultimately death, and in which actions taken to benefit one's own life lead to terrible feelings of guilt. No wonder the followers of such philosophies believe that reality is such a terrible state of affairs, and look forward to some alternate form of existence in which the laws of reality do not apply. Their philosophy is, quite simply, not in accordance with the nature of reality. It is a testament to the noble strength of man's survival instincts that most people who ascribe to such philosophies are not capable of fully living up to them, and do not follow them to their logical conclusion -- the graveyard. However, a life of guilt and anguish is no way for a man to live. </p><p></p><p>Immense joy and beauty is possible to a man in this one sacred, irreplaceable life of his, and it is morally right for him to seize as much of it as he possibly can in the time that he has.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="henschman, post: 2730003, member: 4235"] Well, I certainly don't get my morality from any philosophy which holds that human beings are universally evil for not being that which they cannot possibly be -- condemning man for failing to be not-man, as it were. And I don't ascribe to the idea that the paragon of morality is a creator who makes a flawed creation and then blames it for being flawed. Morality concerns itself with "shoulding"... what should a man do? But to answer that, we have to concern ourselves with "being" -- what is the nature of man? It would make no sense to judge man by any standards other than those applicable to man... not rocks, or dolphins, or theoretical omnipotent, omnipresent beings. So what is man? Man is, first and foremost, an individual. You are in this all alone. You are the only one inside your head, and you are the only one who can direct your conscious actions. Man is also an organism -- he has survival requirements, and is influenced by chemicals, hormones, and emotions. However, man is unique among organisms in the power of his volitional consciousness. Man does not have any in-born survival skills -- rather, his only tool for survival is his mind. In order to survive, he must learn the requirements for his own survival, and direct his actions in accordance with those requirements. More than just volitional consciousness, man is also capable of conceptual thought -- putting like things into categories, holding them in his mind, and referring to them to make sense of reality. One concept that all conceptually-thinking people have, whether they know it or not, is the concept of Self -- the abstracted idea of one's own life, consisting of one's knowledge of one's thoughts, decisions, and actions. Every thought, decision, and action is taken first by the Self, upon the Self -- it is recorded in the individual's consciousness as part of his own idea of who he is. Another of man's survival mechanisms is his ability to form a system of values -- a hierarchy of preferences. This value hierarchy is reinforced by an internal reward/punishment system that gives him a feeling of joy when he acts in accordance with values, and anguish when he acts against his values. Man's overall sense of joy or anguish is largely dependent on how much value he places on his Self -- how consistent his concept of his own life is with his values. Now back to the question of what a man should do. I believe he should live a life of joy. After all, the only alternatives are either not living at all, or living a life of something less than joy. To live a life of joy, a man should choose values which are consistent with the conditions for his own survival. Anything less would lead to a very frustrating existence indeed. But man should aspire to do more than just survive -- he should strive to prosper. There are many more sources of joy to be found to enrich one's life beyond the necessities of survival. Above all else, a man should live in a way that leads him to love his Self as much as possible. Not much joy is possible to a man who does not love his Self. But man chooses what to value -- and as one will no doubt notice if one observes the current state of humanity, it is absolutely possible for man to set his system of values against the requirements for his own life and prosperity, and against his Self, as with the many philosophies of "other-ism" which hold that a man should always put the interests of others before his own. This sort of value system leads to a frustrated existence in which the result of following one's chosen values are ruin and ultimately death, and in which actions taken to benefit one's own life lead to terrible feelings of guilt. No wonder the followers of such philosophies believe that reality is such a terrible state of affairs, and look forward to some alternate form of existence in which the laws of reality do not apply. Their philosophy is, quite simply, not in accordance with the nature of reality. It is a testament to the noble strength of man's survival instincts that most people who ascribe to such philosophies are not capable of fully living up to them, and do not follow them to their logical conclusion -- the graveyard. However, a life of guilt and anguish is no way for a man to live. Immense joy and beauty is possible to a man in this one sacred, irreplaceable life of his, and it is morally right for him to seize as much of it as he possibly can in the time that he has. [/QUOTE]
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