Quote:
Originally posted by Spanky
You can't define evil by saying that it is something that is not good. Or visa versa. You need to define one of them. Good, evil or moral.
Over the weekend I read a book called "The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Futre of Reason". By Sam Harris. I had read summaries of it before, seen interviews of the author but I actually careflly read it this weekend. The thesis of the book is that all Faith is bad, and unless we learn to question people's faith (with the advent of Weapons of Mass Destruction) we are all doomed. The author had clearly come across people with my world view before, so he addressed each one of the things I have proposed on the board and critisized it (rather well). There is a whole section were he argues that ethics and morals do not need to come from either faith or from selfishness. It is almost like entire sections of the book were written just to call B.S. on what I have been saying on this board. The author did a very good job of explaining what I was trying to say on this board, before he attacks it. If people want to read this book, and then start a new thread discussing it, I am totally open to that. I think it would be a perfect starting point for a discussion on morality. However, I think it is time to let this discussion end. I realize main cause of it getting out of hand and utterly tedious was me, but even I have realized that it has become pretty absurd.
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I have picked that book up intending to buy it at least ten times. I haven't though, and its because even I can't handle a vision as bleak as Harris'. I don't think I'm going anywhere when I die, and I don't buy any religion. But I can't imagine a world in which everybody just shrugged and said "Yep, this is it. This is all you'll ever know." We'd have a lot of fucked up people around doing some incredibly fucked up things. I think faith is an informed decision to reject the pointlessness of it all. Some folks can't deal with the fact that its all random and inconsequential. Even if I don't agree, I have to admit, their belief is sort of encouraging. They're something sort of laudable about a person really earnestly wanting to be more than he is, and actually beleiving he is more than he is. So I guess I won't pick on the faithful so much anymore. I get it, even if I don't buy it. Like Lennon said, "Whatever gets [them] through the night, its allright..."
