Here's a good way to put it. Using bad elements for good is possible. Take anti-biotics. They are designed to kill 'biotics', hence living cells. However, they can also be used for killing infected cells or bacteria, thus strengthening the body. Good and Bad is either defined by how it effects the individual, or how it effects the majority of the people. That's why Liberals and Conservatives don't get along often in politics.
being a guru is still cool hugz?/ Ontopic: If it is true that there is no right and wrong, only opinion based on perspective and circumstance, then surely it is also false. I hate paradoxi (this is neither the right or wrong way to pluralise paradox, only what you perceive).
Paradoxes is correct, but paradoxi isn't, according to my spell-check. =P That isn't a paradox, but it made my brain hurt from thinking about it. =D
Well I think that you are all wrong on the issue of morality. It is sad to think that people will just accept the fact that they will be judged so it is okay to judge others. Also to base your morality upon circumstance or rather the consequences we face at a decision we may face is illogical. To say that we should base our moral standards on the legality of whether or not we are allowed to do is ridiculous, remember at time in the U.S. it was legal to be a racist. To reduce our moral standards to the relevatism of where we live and our family values is stupid. To debase our conscience to meet the standards of our society is unthinkable. In short we can't base our morals on that of our human nature, because everyone is different in some way and thinks differently than you. We need something that is consistent in its actions, nature and personality. Something that will not falter and is the same for everyone and is easily defineable. I think some of you will get what I mean, but I still want to hear your opinions on the matter. @Nemi - The Bible states that murder is wrong, not killing. I am sure that if you actually read it you will find that the Old testament is full of warfare in which God supports the Israelites. Anyways, just because it is stated in the Bible does not mean that people abide by it. People blame religion for many of the world's worst conflicts, but as far as I know it is the Atheist who rank top on the death charts. This is just a side thought - Does the Bible say that lying is wrong because "Thou shall not Lie" or does is state "Thou shall not Lie" because lying is wrong?
Rusty, part of understanding right and wrong depends also upon one's understanding of the subject. Is abortion right or wrong? This is the topic today that slavery was 150 years ago. If your understanding is that a fetus is not a living organism..., that a fetus is incapable of feeling or emotion..., then why would abortion be wrong? On the other hand, if you feel that a fetus is a living creature with absolutely human potential..., then how can you possibly believe abortion is right? If in 100 years we discover that fetus' have the ability to feel pain and emotion inside the womb..., can we really look back and say today's society is immoral? No. All you can say is that we did the best we could with the knowledge we had. And even if you don't believe in abortion, there are many in the Christian Right that believe contraception is as sinful as abortion is. Why do they believe that? It's because Christianity, right or wrong, has conditioned them to believe that. For those people, contraception is wrong. I don't personally believe contraception is wrong. I can't tell you that I have taken the absolute path of morality on the subject. I can only tell you that I do not believe contraception to be wrong. Christians believe it's wrong because they have a different understanding of life. They believe every potential life is sacred. Every. Potential. Life. If that is true and if God does exist, then how can they be wrong? It's all about perception, knowledge, understanding.
It's all about the perception, knowledge, understanding of the nature, personality, and character of God. That is what I believe, the Bible doesn't change and never will. I have to look at today's issues, not as a what if, but as a WWJD. It is not enough to just know the knowledge of our choice, but what do we base it on? That is my point, which no one in this thread seems to have answered very well. Having the background knowlege of the subject will help us to make a decision, but again how do we make it? Our family values, our society, legalism, relativism, etc. What is the drving force of your conscience. Mine, my driving force of my moral standards and ethics is God. I am not here to shove a relationship down your throats, but I just want people to fully understand what they base their choices off of. I want people to actually think about what affects their every day to day decisions and how that will affect the rest of their life.
I can however, base my own. I do however feel that it is a sensible argument. I don't quite get your point though. It seems like you could live your life like grand theft auto, because it doesn't matter what you do. This may be a little out of context but honestly trying to be really philosophical to answer a simple queston is kind of confusing.
Your morals and your sense of 'right' and 'wrong' are determined by the early stages and influences in your early development as a childhood. In a sense, your a monkey. And what monkey sees/hears is what monkey says/does. As if your parents were say Suicide bombers, it would influence your sense of right and wrong. There is no right and wrong, just different perspective and points of view on life, society, afterlife.
An interesting point on the topic of Abortion, again. There's no way to tell if a fetus can feel pain or not. Therefore, by aborting it, you assume that it can't feel pain. By forcing pro-life, you assume that it's alive at the moment of conception. It's complicated. We use chemotherapy to kill cancerous cells because we know that it is causing harm to the human body. But we can't tell if a conglomerative group of cells formed into a fetus actually is 'alive'. Yes, the cells are alive. But we can't tell if it thinks, if it can sense.
Right and wrong are based on a persons view. The easiest example is lying. You tell your parents you wont have sexual intercourse until your married, however your baby is due in 6 weeks and your 15 years old. If your parents were to find out they would think that the lie you told was wrong when in your mind you might not.
What I'm saying is, in a nutshell, Live your life-good or bad it doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme of things. I.E. the universe. Now you say, 'Your heartless! You just don't care.' No, I do care. If someone is murdered it is terrible and affects me emotionally. I'm not going to say it doesn't matter to me. However, that is where it stops, it matters only to our species and in catastrophes all species that are affected. The world won't end if I am dead, it will keep going. Just like the universe will keep going if the Earth exploded. Do you value the truth, or should I tell you a sweet lie that we do matter?
There is no right. No matter what you do that you deem right you find repurcussions which lead to wrong. Give a homeless man money for food, he spends it on alcohol, which in turn, gets him fired from a job, which takes his matirialistic status lower, making him poorer. Since he is now so poor, he turns to petty crime. after succeeding in a few small things, such as pickpocketing and small time muggings. He builds confidence until he one day holds up a liquor store. the clerk shoots him in the face. Congratz, unsuspecting 'good guy', you've killed a homeless man
That is one of the most pessimistic views I've ever heard. Someone said our understanding of right vs wrong is determined at childhood. I simply don't believe this to be true. Our childhood may help to lay a good foundation for that understanding to build upon, but it certainly isn't absolute in terms of values. Human beings are a social species and, as with any social species, we have natural instincts for functioning within a group. This is our most basic foundation for determining right from wrong. Social species generally do not kill within their social grouping. That isn't to say that it doesn't happen... just that there is a strong tendency not to. The same thing goes for incest. Our instinct tells us that it is wrong. A healthy natural population of social animals will almost never inbreed. Of course, an animal's most basic instinct for procreation & propagation will invariably lead to inbreeding within a restricted or dying population. Our basic instincts have natural priorities. Self-preservation generally supercedes most any other instinct. A sociopath does not have the instinct preventing him from killing. From the perspective of a sociopath, killing is neither right nor wrong. It is simply a choice as mundane as which pair of shoes to put on in the morning. The ONLY reason a sociopath can function in society is because there are consequences for killing and sociopaths still have the instinct for self-preservation. In a sociopath's mind, the only thing that matters is their own experience and survival. You are I are no different than that pair of shoes. If the shoes no longer serve their purpose, they get discarded. Even our actions on this forum are determined by our basic nature for social interaction. Human beings will always try to find a natural balance with one another. Men generally have a tendency for dominance which is why we're so competitive. Ever wondered by a crying baby can be so stressful? It's because we're genetically programmed with a need to respond to that sound. Until that need is resolved...i.e., the crying stops... our body responds by elevating our stress level. This ensures that we will nurture our offspring. There is no simple answer to this question. There are many factors that affect our perception of right and wrong. It isn't all determined by genetics either. Genetics simply provide a foundation. Experience. Perception. Society. Religion. Knowledge. They all play their part.
There is no right. There is no wrong. There is no good. There is no evil. There is nothing but matter and anti-matter.