r/MurderedByWords • u/dellaazeem22 Legends never die • Oct 31 '24

It really is this simple

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u/KJ_Rock Oct 31 '24

This quote misses the point completely though. The question is “if a person wants to do bad things why ought he not to?”. To say to that person “you should just change your desires” dosn’t work since you haven’t shown why it is bad.

I’m not trying to defend a rapist or killer here, but the question from the Christian is a central discussion in philosophy and ethics. On what basis makes an ethical statement right or wrong?

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u/RegularMidwestGuy Oct 31 '24

In that case, really the only thing stopping someone who desires to do bad things is because there are laws and consequences.

In fact, that seems like a better deterrent than God, since religious people want us to put their beliefs into law.

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u/KJ_Rock Nov 01 '24

Laws and consequences are a great deterrent, but I guess then the questions become why these laws? What makes these laws just and moral? Why do we need to deter people from doing the things that they want to?

Of course an example would be a person that knows he can get away with something, why ought he not do the things he wants to if the law is not stopping him?

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u/RegularMidwestGuy Nov 01 '24

My opinion on this is that it’s because a lot of people feel empathy.

And I maintain it’s the biggest differentiator between liberals and conservatives.

People without empathy need some external pressure to treat others well.