Quote Originally Posted by Revo View Post
Soo.. Why even bring up the topic of a divine moral authority if we agree it's a non-factor..? Anyway, nevermind then.
I was just mentioning that I acknowledge that I cannot prove such a viewpoint is outright false, for the benefit of those that do believe in divine moral authority.

It seems that your view is then almost identical to mine, except you seem to be hesitant about setting any truth-value to your beliefs outside your own perspective. Understandable carefulness.. but I've got nothing better to do, so I'll challenge it anyway :

Is there really any question whether or not morality relates to human and animal well-being? Why do you think we don't have enough knowledge about life and the way conscious entities work to make this conclusion?
Just like with medical sciences, we don't have to competely understand what "perfect health" is in order to make objective decisions regarding to healthcare. We know that health relates to functions of the human body. If someone disagrees, we don't say that they "just have another perspective" of what health is. We simply say that they are wrong and no respectable professional doctor has to take that person seriously.
I think it comes down to a question of whether or not everything we can see and measure and experience is all there is to life. We can never know whether or not there exists something beyond our ability to understand and observe by the very nature of what that would be, so my acknowledgement of that possibility is more a hypothetical one than anything else. I personally don't believe in a divine moral authority in the sense of a God setting rules we must follow because it simply does not make sense to me, in my mind, that this is how things would work. The notion of morality being about how actions affect others makes far more sense to me. But I guess having been in these discussions enough times, I decided to preemptively acknowledge that I could not empirically prove this belief as a fact and was therefore not prepared to defend it as such, but only to defend my personal moral beliefs within the context of the moral system which I ascribe to.

I think it's pretty clear-cut on things like actions that cause obvious harm to others, but the grey areas of morality, where things get more fuzzy, is where I maintain that it's more difficult to say there is a clear objective answer to this. For example: issues like the death penalty, killing of other living things for food, etc. Things people would consider "necessary evils," where harm must come to one living thing to prevent harm from coming to another. How do we judge that objectively? I don't know if we really can, and that's where I have take a step back and say, I may feel one way about it, but clearly others may feel quite differently and I cannot state my moral views on that issue as an undisputed fact.

In situations like those, people tend to rely on more varied methods of determining what the correct moral answer is, ranging from "How does this affect me or those I am close to?" to "What does this mean in the grand scheme of life?" or for some "What might a divine moral authority have to say about this in regards to how it fits into the rest of life's intended function?"

Just as an example question to prod around a bit outside your own perspective.. Do you think westerners are justified in critiquing Middle-Eastern countries for forcing their women to clothe themselves in burkas? Do you or do you not think it is not our business to meddle into the cultural quirks of other societies?
I don't think this has one easy answer. I support meddling in certain circumstances, but not in others. In this instance it would come down to how the primary affected party feels about the policy, and for this specific example, I don't support the notion of forcing women to dress a specific way to adhere to cultural standards. I believe women should be free to dress as they please. At the same time, and for the same reason, if a Middle-Eastern woman preferred to adhere to her traditional clothing requirements as a personal choice, I do not feel it would be any westerner's place to tell her she should not do that. I support the freedom of personal choice either way in that scenario.