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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (5671)	2/13/2001 7:25:12 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

I think it was a Heinlein book you are referring to, and yes, I read and enjoyed it too. The point of it being, that some customs do change as circumstances change. I have no problem with that. Frankly, I think our society is wrong in prohibiting plural marriage among people who want to practice it -- my liberal/libertarian side coming out. But the fact that some moral customs are variable doesn't mean that all are. I think there are also some immutable absolutes, and I think we can pretty well agree on at least some of them. For example, the torture of infants. I know of few if any mentally healthy people who will say that the torture of infants could be made morally accepable by a society defining it as acceptable. Although certain societies have used rape as a societally acceptable tool of societal goals (consider the "comfort women") I doubt many people here or anywhere would agree that a society can make rape morally right by defining it as societally acceptable. I'll start with those two. Do you think societal acceptance can make either of those morally right?

To: Lane3 who wrote (5671)	2/13/2001 8:34:28 PM
From: Jorj X Mckie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" Robert A Heinlein I like science fiction--the kind about other paradigms, not the space cowboys type. One of the first sci fi books I ever read was about a society on the moon that developed after it had been used as a penal colony, much like Australia. That society had a different concept of marriage and family. When you were of age, you married into a family where you had multiple husbands and wives. Children were raised communally until they left to marry into another family. I remember finding that interesting and I don't dismiss that system out of hand. In that place and time, another paradigm of morality could make perfect sense. There's not just one absolute morality handed down from on high, IMO.