
The purpose of this group is to discuss morality from all points of view: biological, evolutionary, philosophical. Specific moral questions are also encouraged: if you have a moral question for us atheists, feel free to post it here.
Website: http://www.thinkatheist.com/group/atheistmorality
Location: A Planet Near and Dear
Members: 207
Latest Activity: May 13
While it is indeed possible that some people may need religion in order to be moral, this is a scary thought: their morality has not been reasoned or felt in their gut, it was ordered from above.
Human beings have had moral laws and codes for thousands and thousands of years before religion was ever invented, at least in an organized form. Human beings around the globe, from many religious backgrounds, have pretty much the same basic set of rules, starting with the Golden Rule. Why? Because our moral sense comes from the evolution of our brains and the need to live as a social species, avoiding conflict and increasing cooperation. Our moral sense is based on our emotions: it feels good to help others, and it feels bad to harm others.
The scientific study of human nature has naturally lead to the scientific study of human morality. A good start if you're new to this fascinating and important subject is The New Science of Morality, from Edge.org.
ONGOING DISCUSSIONS
The Video Thread
The Reading List
The Moral Repository
Exercises in Moral Dilemmas
ONLINE TESTS
These are academic tests designed to probe our moral sense, moral cognition, and what drives our moral decisions and judgments. They are fun, they will tell you a lot about yourself, and you'll be helping researchers add to their current data.
YourMorals.org (Jonathan Haidt's group and collaborators)
The Moral Sense Test (Joshua Greene-Harvard University)
Started by Dallas the Phallus. Last reply by Tom Sarbeck Apr 22. 26 Replies 2 Likes
In a book coming out next week called The Bonobo and the…Continue
Started by Dallas the Phallus. Last reply by Tom Sarbeck Apr 7, 2012. 8 Replies 0 Likes
Why a lack of empathy is the root of all evil From casual violence to genocide, acts of cruelty can be traced back to how the perpetrator identifies with other people, argues psychologist Simon…Continue
Tags: psychopathology, cruelty, violence, evil, testosterone
Started by Hope. Last reply by Hope Nov 27, 2011. 13 Replies 0 Likes
A sexual revolution in the Middle East... Cool but, Islamists dont like that!Anther updates from the religion of peace! what do you think?!This time it's about a teenager atheist girl who needs to…Continue
Started by Dallas the Phallus. Last reply by Dallas the Phallus Oct 25, 2011. 66 Replies 0 Likes
I thought it might be kind of nice to have a thread where we can just add all the great stuff that we find which may not merit its own thread.This thread can be used to add:· Relevant…Continue
Tags: meta-ethics, glossary, reports, studies, research
Started by Dallas the Phallus Sep 19, 2011. 0 Replies 0 Likes
Another great essay by Stephen Pinker. - Dallas Why Is There Peace?Over the past century, violent images from World War II concentration camps, Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur, Iraq, and many other times…Continue
Tags: human nature, torture, homicide, violence, history
Started by Dallas the Phallus. Last reply by Richard W. Symonds Sep 13, 2011. 1 Reply 0 Likes
Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty How important is our brain’s empathy circuit and what happens to society when it doesn’t work properly? We’ll find out this hour with University of Cambridge…Continue
Tags: THINK, science, NPR, autism, psychopaths
Started by Dallas the Phallus. Last reply by Unseen Sep 7, 2011. 6 Replies 0 Likes
This is a thread for moral dilemmas (a part of applied ethics), feel free to post your favorite moral dilemma, real of made up, and what you would do and why. If you don't have anything to add right…Continue
Tags: applied ethics, moral dilemmas, morality, ethics
Started by Dallas the Phallus. Last reply by T A A Sep 7, 2011. 3 Replies 0 Likes
From 2007. Nothing really new to this group, though. I like the moral dilemma Greene poses on page two. That one has not come up here before. - Dallas If It Feels Good to Be Good, It Might Be Only…Continue
Tags: paleocortex, right and wrong, reward system, morals, science
Started by Richard W. Symonds. Last reply by Richard W. Symonds Jul 29, 2011. 8 Replies 1 Like
Noam Chomsky's atheist morality makes more sense to me than the atheist non-sense of 'Richard Dawkins & his Merrie Men' …Continue
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Comment by Chris G on February 21, 2011 at 11:35pm
Comment by T A A on February 21, 2011 at 6:34pm sorry :)
LoL my intent was really to keep it focused on ethics revealed by gamer motivation as opposed to the impact of games on society, whole other debate!
Comment by T A A on February 21, 2011 at 10:08am
Comment by Jaume on February 21, 2011 at 9:37am Why should we care about Kant?
Short answer: we shouldn't, because abstract reasoning is useless. Brute force, that's what drives the world.
Or in other words: because Immanuel Kant, but Genghis Khan.
Comment by Don on February 20, 2011 at 1:44pm Jerry Coyne (author of WHY EVOLUTION IS TRUE) is one who remains convinced that Obama is a closeted atheist, partly because of allusions to nonbelief he has made in his books and partly because, as others suggest, he would not have gotten far in politics if he had not declared himself a Christian.
See this: http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/obama-is-still-a...
Pete Stark may be the only out atheist in Congress, but Bernie Sanders, the junior senator from my own state (the country's least religious state), Vermont, is known to be a secular humanist--though he would not invite distracting condemnation by commenting publicly on his beliefs.
Comment by Jaume on February 16, 2011 at 10:48pm
Comment by Jaume on February 16, 2011 at 10:15pm With so many members, I think time is ripe for a big poll. What is, according to you, the biggest moral challenge of our times?
I'd cast my vote to reforming the socio-economical model we chose post-WW2: consumerism; mass advertising; planned obsolescence; spending more than we own; turning oceans and third-world countries into waste dumps; and the absurd belief that a finite world is compatible with ever-increasing, infinite growth. Do we want our children to inherit a dilapidated planet?
Comment by T A A on February 1, 2011 at 5:15am
Comment by Jaume on January 31, 2011 at 10:39pm Crapping or not crapping is not a moral issue.
I'm not so sure we don't subconsciously attach moral 'values' to the byproducts of our physiology. Read this short story, and then try to figure out, say, Kirk and Spock's reaction to their discovery of a new sentient species made out of fecal matter.
"They're made out of shit..."
Started by Dallas the Phallus. Last reply by Tom Sarbeck Apr 22. 26 Replies 2 Likes
Posted by Robert Karp on May 21, 2013 at 10:34am 2 Comments 0 Likes
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