Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site cybvax0.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!cybvax0!mrh From: mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Where do morals come from Message-ID: <260@cybvax0.UUCP> Date: Sat, 8-Dec-84 18:01:18 EST Article-I.D.: cybvax0.260 Posted: Sat Dec 8 18:01:18 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 9-Dec-84 03:48:40 EST References: <1700@umcp-cs.UUCP> Reply-To: mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) Distribution: na Organization: Cybermation, Inc., Cambridge, MA Lines: 22 Summary: In article <1700@umcp-cs.UUCP> mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) writes: > I have a question for the non-theists out there: where does the > authority for your moral system come from? > > I'm particularly interested in whether you feel your system allows any > judgement of the behavior of others. > > Charley Wingate umcp-cs!mangoe Glad you asked-- I didn't have much idea until I thought about it. Authority for a moral system comes from the same place authority for any other secular position, or status comes from: power. Not just the power to inflict, but the passive power of agreement. Think of it as being the same sort of question as "where does the authority of the president come from?" I feel that judgement is unreliable, but an inescapable heuristic. Without judgement, a system of any sort is outcompeted or must survive commensally with a system that does have judgement. -- Mike Huybensz ...decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!cybvax0!mrh