Immanuel Kant - Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals

[Thunder Road]

We're reading this text in my Christ College class right now.  (Christ College is actually the name of the honors college  )

For those who aren't familiar with Kant, this text presents the idea that morality is based on universal maxims that exist as inherent (a priori) principles, a metaphysics of morals in other words, and that we achieve peace through reason.

While we're reading this the next week, I thought I'd post about it as we went through it, since it seems to really lay out what most atheists claim (as do I, of course), that morals are not dependent on religion or adherence to a supreme being, but rather, they are inherent within us.

The idea of a universal maxim based on a priori principles essentially destroys BOTH Xtian morality AND moral relativism.


Unfortunately, philosophy is not my forte.  Or even my thirte.  (Ok lame joke, move along.)  I'm the one who threw his book off the balcony of the library when trying to decipher Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics.  So I can't guarantee that everything I say about the text will be right, or that I'll be able to answer questions about it thoroughly, but I still think it might be interesting for you all to experience it with me.

Oh yes, and my class is all conservative Xtians except for me and one other girl who wears a headdress but whose religion I don't know since it really isn't polite to ask.  In other words, 10/12 are conservative Xtians, so this should be fun.

[Sandra Craft]

Should be interesting.  I've done some reading in the past few years about animal behavior and societies and it seems that much of the morality that humans have considered their own is actually displayed by many other animals and most other primates.  This suggests to me that either morality is not god-given, or humans are mistaken about the exceptionalism of our species (and may be facing a very pissed off bovine or [dare I hope?] feline god).

Oh yes, and my class is all conservative Xtians except for me and one other girl who wears a headdress but whose religion I don't know since it really isn't polite to ask.

I don't understand why it could be impolite to ask, esp. since her headdress is a public declaration in itself.

[history_geek]

I've done some reading in the past few years about animal behavior and societies and it seems that much of the morality that humans have considered their own is actually displayed by many other animals and most other primates.  This suggests to me that either morality is not god-given, or humans are mistaken about the exceptionalism of our species (and may be facing a very pissed off bovine or [dare I hope?] feline god).

I saw this some time ago, lucky I found it:

Prehistoric Predators: Dire Wolf

Skip to around 25:00 through 27:30 and you'll hear something interesting

But, if you end up being lazy or can't watch the vid for some reason, the basic point is that there is evidence that these Dire Wolves lived in packs that actually took care of their own, even the severly injured ones. There are a lot of fossils that have severe fractures on the skulls and other parts, indicating wounds that should have been serious if not even fatal in very short time, but instead these individuals lived for many more years before falling prey to the Tar Pits where their remains were found!

Canis dirus or Dire Wolf

Honestly, the more I learn about the natural wolrd and the living habits of other animals, there more I'm convinced that our supposed "human traits" are nowhere near as unique to us as we would like to think......

[Thunder Road]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xwOCmJevigw

[Sandra Craft]

But, if you end up being lazy or can't watch the vid for some reason, the basic point is that there is evidence that these Dire Wolves lived in packs that actually took care of their own, even the severly injured ones. There are a lot of fossils that have severe fractures on the skulls and other parts, indicating wounds that should have been serious if not even fatal in very short time, but instead these individuals lived for many more years before falling prey to the Tar Pits where their remains were found!

The more I learn about other animals, the less "special" humans become.

[Sweetdeath]

But, if you end up being lazy or can't watch the vid for some reason, the basic point is that there is evidence that these Dire Wolves lived in packs that actually took care of their own, even the severly injured ones. There are a lot of fossils that have severe fractures on the skulls and other parts, indicating wounds that should have been serious if not even fatal in very short time, but instead these individuals lived for many more years before falling prey to the Tar Pits where their remains were found!

The more I learn about other animals, the less "special" humans become.

XD if not for our thumbs and brain to build stuff, we'd be extinct a loooong time ago.

[Thunder Road]

Now we're on to J.S. Mill, who's more of an atheist.  Attacks Christianity frequently in On Liberty, yet he does it formally and, I'd say, quite fairly.