Yes and No.

Yes in the sense that we've made very good progress

No in the sense that right now is a good time to start withdrawing.

[QUOTE="domatron23"][QUOTE="mrbojangles25"]

Does anyone else think this is a joke thread, and the TC is being intentionally difficult?

mrbojangles25

oh sweet jesus, those poor, poor teachers

[QUOTE="danwallacefan"]

[QUOTE="domatron23"] Aw bollocks to you thinking that you don't have a moral compass and bollocks to Locke and his tabula rasa rubbish. How many babies have you slaughtered and eaten this year? What's that, none! Well why the hell not? Because you live in a society that frowns on that sort of **** and because you have a moral intuition that you ought not do that, that's why. If you're looking for a way to intellectually justify your moral intuitions then you're **** out of luck. It's not a fact that you ought not slaughter and eat babies it''s a prescriptive, evaluative, non-rational, non-epistemological, emotive feeling. Read some damned Hume.domatron23

Parallel universes proven to exist.

I wonder what's on the other side.

It's cool to think that inan alternate universe, I could be a millionaire!!

psychobrew

Have you taken a philosophy of ethics class perchance? If you haven't then you should and if you have then you ought to be able to answer this question easily. Oh and a class that cover evolutionary physchology would help as well. [QUOTE="themountaindew"] But I wasnt born with a moral compass, I'm a Lockean, so I believe there are NO innate ideas. So, your God theory is trumped.domatron23

[QUOTE="danwallacefan"]

[QUOTE="SgtKevali"]

Only humans are humans. Other animals aren't. It's wrong to kill because you're depriving someone wholly self aware of what is truly theirs. Some might argue it's evolutionary hardwired into our brains that killing is wrong.

coolbeans90

Is there any evidence to the contrary? The closest thing seems to be self-consciousness.

Only humans are humans. Other animals aren't. It's wrong to kill because you're depriving someone wholly self aware of what is truly theirs. Some might argue it's evolutionary hardwired into our brains that killing is wrong.

SgtKevali

[QUOTE="danwallacefan"]

[QUOTE="themountaindew"] Okay, flying is morally wrong because I cant. Eating rocks is morally wrong. Being a dog is morally wrong. Wth?themountaindew

Do you know what a "properly basic belief" is?

You're a philo major, you should know what a properly basic belief is.

To illustrate what a basic belief is, I'll give a thought experiment. Imagine you walk outside and encounter a tree. Immediately you form the belief "there is a tree in front of me". You dont really have any evidence for this belief. In order for evidence to be evidence, it has to confer rationality onto another belief. Furthermore, in order for it to confer rationality onto another belief, you must be aware of this relationship.

So you might say "of course I have evidence, I can see it!". Well, no, you dont have evidence when you form the belief "there is a tree in front of me" because you spontaneously formed it. You did not form it by thinking "Hmm, I see a tree, there must therefore be a tree in front of me".

Nevertheless, this belief that there is a tree in front of you is entirely rational and justified.

This "there is a tree in front of me" is what philosophers call a "properly basic belief". Most beliefs we have are properly basic.

I submit that moral beliefs, like "it is always wrong to kill someone without reason", are themselves properly basic. If they are properly basic, then we must believe in them.

[QUOTE="danwallacefan"]

[QUOTE="themountaindew"]

Hi, I'm a 22 year old philosophy major at the University of Michigan, and I, for the life of me, even with all the know how behind philosophy and what not, cannot figure out why it is considered "wrong" to kill another human. I mean, humans kill animals, and they're practically human, so why can't we kill humans, who are practically animals?

themountaindew

Geez! I can understand where allan bloom was coming from when writing "The Closing of the American Mind"

Do you know what a "properly basic belief" is?

Hi, I'm a 22 year old philosophy major at the University of Michigan, and I, for the life of me, even with all the know how behind philosophy and what not, cannot figure out why it is considered "wrong" to kill another human. I mean, humans kill animals, and they're practically human, so why can't we kill humans, who are practically animals?

themountaindew

Geez! I can understand where allan bloom was coming from when writing "The Closing of the American Mind"