"If there are no absolute standards the terms good and evil will be meaningless outside the mind of man (which I have always argued they are"
Now you see, that's something that I appreciate about you X. It seems to me that you are an honest and sincere person, you hold your views up to the light, and do not Try to hide behind smoke screens. Of course I believe that you are wrong and that you have so far, failed to take your ideas to their logical conclusion, but I do respect you for sticking to your guns.
It is obviously true that people use language in different ways and still there is enough commonality that it remains meaningful. The point that I would disagree with you comes in how you are using the term "outside the mind of man". Are you using "mind of man" in a collective sense or an individual sense? If you are using "mind of man" in a collective sense, how do you account for this universal mind? If as I suppose, you are using it an individual sense then two people with different minds must both use a standard that is outside of themselves in order to make meaningful communication possible. I just asked for clarification from you about your use of a particular term. Presumably you will tell me the sense in which you are using it, we will agree or not, and communication will have taken place. The problem with applying that model to Morality, (notice the capital) is that unlike words, that can be arbitrarily assigned different meanings, certain actions carried out by humans seem to carry a set moral currency, or value. In other words certain actions are wrong, even if we agree that they are not. As Humans this sense of outrage at evil, seems to just well up in us, regardless of our political, philosophical or religious background, as it did in the case of Gould's reaction to the WTC attack. I don't find any good explanation for this universal reaction by people from INSIDE "the mind of man", therefore I believe that, at the very least, it points to something, (call it what you want), but something that is OUTSIDE the mind of man. |
