tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post5463160965927477284..comments2023-10-24T04:29:23.693-06:00Comments on Atheist Ethicist: Steven Pinker and Attaching SentimentsAlonzo Fyfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-11067683545620246952013-04-06T23:10:11.585-06:002013-04-06T23:10:11.585-06:00Hello Alonzo, I recently found your blog and I hop...Hello Alonzo, I recently found your blog and I hope to follow along regularly, very interesting stuff indeed. <br /><br />I think the biggest problem with the "primitive" human morality is that we like to find a way to blame people for events that are out of their control. You see it in almost every debate. Homosexuals chose to be gay; poor people 100% chose to be poor; a woman was raped because she dressed provacatively; etc. So yes, I absolutely agree with you that these primitive ways of thinking about morality need to be lost. But I question the ability to plan it out and put it into action as you describe here. Doing away with this mindset is going to be very difficult indeed given how ingrained it is in society. It seems easier to attack it at individual points rather than as a whole. So, for example, we focus on gay marriage and convincing people that gay people did not choose to be gay. That idea is gaining a lot of traction in recent years, at least enough to push gay marriage support above 50% in the USA. It's harder to convince people of the idea that in general, people have less control over their actions than they may think. One has to wonder if free will exists at all, but that is a discussion for another post. I don't know that we'll be able to so easily institute and reward/punishment system. Changing a mindset that is ingrained from birth is not that simple. Hopefully we change people one idea at a time, and then the new mindset becomes commonplace in society.arracenoreply@blogger.com