Bonemonster said:
Kanatatsu said:
Kanatatsu said:
Bonemonster said:
Kanatatsu said:
Bonemonster said:
There is no such thing as good or evil. Only two or more sides with opposing views.
This is just plain stupidity. Your philosophy prof sucks.
Shall I provide an example for you?
There are many people in the world that view Americans and The West in general as being evil. Are you an American? Do you live in "The West"? Are you evil?
What we perceive as "good" and "evil" are just ideas brought upon us by what we are taught and our experiences through life. Can you scientifically prove something as being "good"? Can you scientifically prove something as being "evil"?
This is absolutely the worst kind of trashy, "look at me, I decided to be a moral relativist today!" horseshit. When you grow up a little, you'll realize your shiny new intellectual bauble is worthless.
Bonemonster said:
Kanatatsu said:
Bonemonster said:
Kanatatsu said:
Bonemonster said:
There is no such thing as good or evil. Only two or more sides with opposing views.
This is just plain stupidity. Your philosophy prof sucks.
Shall I provide an example for you?
There are many people in the world that view Americans and The West in general as being evil. Are you an American? Do you live in "The West"? Are you evil?
What we perceive as "good" and "evil" are just ideas brought upon us by what we are taught and our experiences through life. Can you scientifically prove something as being "good"? Can you scientifically prove something as being "evil"?
This is absolutely the worst kind of trashy, "look at me, I decided to be a moral relativist today!" horseshit. When you grow up a little, you'll realize your shiny new intellectual bauble is worthless.
So instead of further engagement in the debate you resort to baseless insults? Who needs to grow up exactly?
It's not a "baseless" insult if it's true, child.
Then explain how my argument is false. If someone truly believes that you are evil does that make you evil? If you answer "yes" to that question then you are correct, if you answer "no" to that question then I am correct.
What you are insinuating in your argument is that "good" and "evil" are defined in stone but you fail to realize that societies around the world have different views and beliefs on what is "good" or "evil".
What you are insinuating with your argument is that if someone doesn't believe exactly as you do, they're in the wrong.
If anyone is a child, it is you. If anyone is a fool, it is you.
No, I am telling you that you need to think more because you don't even understand the position you are taking.
Your argument is false in the first instance because there are obvious examples of acts that are so evil that there can be no possible relativistic position taken on them. The torture and murder of an infant would be an example. I could think of others but I would rather not. No serious philosopher has made a good argument for total moral relativism.
Please note that we're not talking about different social mores or cultural standards. Your example of the relative views of different societies on social and political issues (i.e., people think the West is "evil") misses the point entirely. You are arguing against against basic ethnocentricism or politicocentrism (basically, using the standards of one's own culture to evaluate others). That's not the same thing as arguing against any form of objective moral standard at all.
Also, when you ask if anyone can "scientifically" prove that something is good or evil, it's just a profoundly uninformed way to phrase the question. The discussion has nothing to do with science--it is a philosophical question that most of the great thinkers in human history have come down on the other side of than you. What you may be asking is a question of epistemological moral relativism (i.e., how can we *know* what is right and wrong), but again that is not the same thing as an argument against the existence of objective moral standards (it is an argument about our ability to know what those standards are).
If you want to be an informed moral relativist perhaps David Harmon would be a good place to start. Or just get on Google. Here's a link if you actually want to learn something about your own position:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-relativism/
In general, please don't be such an uniformed hack. It's very easy to have a philosophical position and defend it on the ground that "everyone has the right to their own opinion", but that doesn't mean your opinion has any intellectual merit. I happen to have a Ph.D in philosophy and saw far too many kids like you (who have all the answers and didn't even understand the questions) when I was teaching. I generally failed them.
I'm done now, but congratulations--you baited me into the lecture I wanted to avoid.