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

To: The Philosopher who wrote (53132)	7/30/2002 9:15:33 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

I am terribly sorry for having left things hanging so long, Christopher. I think Kant is right, that morality proceeds religion, and that our sense that justice must in the end be vindicated, as it is not in this life, leads to belief in immortality and a just Judge. (Need it be said that our fear of the rigors of justice as applied to ourselves leads to the hope of mercy as well as justice?)It is not the only route to belief, but it is a sound one. On the other hand, I agree with you that the idea that morality is in the deep structure of the universe is important. Far from leading to bigotry, I think it leads to anxiety to conform one's conscience to the truth, to whatever degree it is discernible, and therefore to greater scrupulousness about getting things right, and humility about one's own opinion. It is the person who thinks that all opinions are equally valid who may as well be complacent about whatever he or she happens to think at any given time, and who is in no position to advert to first principles in an effort to argue the points at issue. As I said earlier, both Nazism and Communism are examples of relativism. To the Nazis, each Volk had its values and destiny, and they were beyond argument and incommensurable. Similarly with Communists: morality merely reflected class interests. In the end, there was nothing to prevent either from imposing their views, since it was considered their destiny to prevail. And they were not to prevail through argument, but blood and iron. Of course, morality cannot be in the deep structure of the universe unless there is a Logos, or God, or something of that sort. Therefore, it seems to me that the safest bulwark for morality is a belief in God, so long as it is reflective, and not purely derived from revelation or custom......