
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 28
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 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 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
Started by Jaume. Last reply by T A A Mar 9, 2011. 54 Replies 0 Likes
Per Adriana's request, I've moved the question from…Continue
Tags: morality, moral challenge
Started by Jacob LeMaster. Last reply by fester60613 Mar 2, 2011. 10 Replies 0 Likes
Here is an example that was very personal to me..My grandmother was very ill due to a bad blood transfusion after giving birth to my uncle around 40 years ago.. Being in the bible belt the most…Continue
Started by Albert Bakker. Last reply by Albert Bakker Feb 24, 2011. 18 Replies 0 Likes
In making a first small foray into Quasi Realism, I would like first to go back here to the very basics.Lets for a moment forget about the correct chronological order and the whole network of nested…Continue
Started by Jaume. Last reply by A Former Member Feb 22, 2011. 37 Replies 0 Likes
Ow. It's not that easy to present an in-depth analysis or synthesis of Moral Contextualism (MC for short), when it is a fairly recent development of moral philosophy, and the relevant online…Continue
Tags: Adriana is a tyrant, contextualism, epistemology, morality, Moral Contextualism
Started by T A A. Last reply by T A A Feb 22, 2011. 94 Replies 0 Likes
Nearly all my life, video gaming has been an attractive pastime. My grandparents bought that ridiculous "ping" (probably wrong name) game for the old B/W television set in their living room and all…Continue
Started by Ryan E. Hoffman. Last reply by No name Feb 21, 2011. 22 Replies 0 Likes
This whole Operation Rescue thing done by Rachel Maddow, in addition to the Justifiable Homicide in South Dakota for killing people that would do harm to a fetus aka Abortion Doctors... it's really…Continue
Started by Wassabi. Last reply by T A A Feb 5, 2011. 32 Replies 0 Likes
I recently read an article about altruism (not In English or I'd link), which stated there is actually no such thing.While humans do not have ability to relay tangible things to each other by means…Continue
Started by John Garbutt. Last reply by T A A Feb 1, 2011. 3 Replies 0 Likes
Alright, so first of all I'm taking Theology & Religious Studies at university. A lot of people find this pretty strange for an atheist, but I'm fascinated by mythology, by superstition and by…Continue
Comment
Comment by T A A on January 25, 2011 at 5:40pm
Comment by Richard W. Symonds on January 20, 2011 at 12:05pm
Comment by Jaume on January 20, 2011 at 11:57am
Comment by Richard W. Symonds on January 20, 2011 at 11:46am
Comment by Richard W. Symonds on January 20, 2011 at 11:19am "Faith in nothing is not valid, Richard, it is just silly"
Let's take that statement from you doone, to illustrate
what I am trying to say :
You cannot know, with 100% certainty, that your statement
is correct.
It might correspond with the truth more than someone
else's opinion - but that's all you can say.
Comment by Jaume on January 20, 2011 at 11:17am A dangerous illusion? I beg to disagree. 'Believing' is necessary to us, or we would waste our time trying to 'prove' everything that's been 'proven' countless times before. Generalized absolute skepticism would be much worse than relying on 'belief'.
What you missed is there are two ways to believe: faith and trust. The latter is corroborated by evidence (the more I eat omelettes, the more I believe the best way to cook one is to break some eggs first), while the former is not.
Comment by Richard W. Symonds on January 20, 2011 at 11:05am That "epidemic of certainty" can afflict both Theists & Atheists alike - and that "feeling of knowing", to my mind, is a dangerous illusion.
Nobody knows anything with 100% certainty - scientists & non-scientists alike - because we are fallible human beings, with fallible brains. Cocksureness is a function of human ignorance
Essentially, life is a matter of faith - whatever you believe in (or don't believe In).
Comment by Richard W. Symonds on January 20, 2011 at 10:19am
Comment by Richard W. Symonds on January 19, 2011 at 4:24am
Comment by justin gold on January 17, 2011 at 12:34pm Started by Hope. Last reply by Hope Nov 27, 2011. 13 Replies 0 Likes
Posted by Unseen on June 19, 2013 at 1:26pm 11 Comments 0 Likes
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