tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post7154194208724217061..comments2023-10-24T04:29:23.693-06:00Comments on Atheist Ethicist: Atheism's 10 CommandmentsAlonzo Fyfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-70588265925744850722007-12-21T19:14:00.000-07:002007-12-21T19:14:00.000-07:00eneaszI actually do not have any disagreement with...<B>eneasz</B><BR/><BR/>I actually do not have any disagreement with what you wrote. I have written that I sometimes use slogans or "rules of thumb" to present moral principles. I do so because they are easy to digest and, though not precisely accurate, are good enough for the purposes I apply them to.<BR/><BR/>Somebody could perhaps identify the ten most common of these phrases and draw up "Fyfe's 10 Commandments of Desire Utilitarianism."<BR/><BR/>I would cringe at this attempt because I suspect I would then have to deal with a lot of misunderstanding as people treated these 'rules of thumb' as absolute and unyielding moral truth. They would, of course, scoff at my failure to defend these claims as absolute and unyileding moral truth.<BR/><BR/>However, my reasons for cringing are not reasons for claiming that anything you wrote was false. Only that there might be more efficient ways to report what is true.Alonzo Fyfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-77162592019966336242007-12-21T11:16:00.000-07:002007-12-21T11:16:00.000-07:00I think there is actually a good argument in suppo...I think there is actually a good argument in support of using "10 Commandment"-style moral guildlines.<BR/><BR/>First, not many people have the time or desire to put a lot of energy into moral theory. Having quick and easy rules that provide a good baseline for the most frequent real-life moral issues would be a valuable, if imperfect, tool. And we don't need to worry too much about anyone sticking to the rules too strictly, as the real world has already demonstrated that people are very flexible with their applications of the rules to account for things like neccessity, exceptions, and out-weighing desires.<BR/><BR/>Secondly, - and in my opinion more importantly - people are pre-disposed to like commandments and take them to heart. Perhaps this is due to social conditioning, but based upon their wide-spread use through most (all?) civilizations, there could be a genetic component to this attraction. People generally like having such commandments, they are committed to memory easier than most other things, and are recalled faster. There is an already-present desire to adhere to the commandments to some degree, and people are very happy to share these commandments with others and help to spread them through their communities. <BR/><BR/>In short, a list of commandments could be a good tool for morality in the practical real world.<BR/><BR/>And to help prevent the cementation of rigid and unchangable commandments, either the first or last commandment could (and should) be something to the effect of: "None of these commandments are absolute or without exceptions. None of them is perfect, and as such they should all be evaluated for error frequently." Maybe make the first sentence the first commandment, and the last sentence the tenth commandment. :) A 10% loss of commandments maybe, but an acceptable cost of insurance, and they themselves hold valuable moral instruction, prohibiting unswavering rigidity and promoting a love of truth-seeking.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com