Re: Heroism and Materialism

Russell Stewart (diamond@rt66.com)
Thu, 26 Jun 1997 10:07:03 -0600

>> Gene: I can see how the love of Christ can lead to this self-sacrificing
>> ethic.
>> Pim: Sure, it's no guarantee but I could see why this could happen. But
>> similarly a love of Mankind could lead to similar behavior.
>
>Gene: I cannot see how a materialist ethic like socialism can provide any
>"oughts"-- any reasons to do good things for your fellow men.

Actually, the whole purpose of socialism is to build a society that
concerns itself with all its fellow men (and women, of course). Of
course, one can debate whether or not it actually *works*, but that
is not what you were talking about.

>I think
>your grandparents were *better* than their philosophy, or rather that
>their philosophy, in encouraging self-sacrificing virtue, is inconsistent
>if based on materialist foundations (materialism: all there is is
>matter).

But it is not inconsistent if it is based on humanist foundations, which
it clearly is.

>Understand that I am not criticizing your grandparents--their actions
>certainly speak of heroism--I am just saying I can't see how the
>philosophy that they presumably followed can logically reach the
>conclusions that motivated your grandparents.

I explained that in my post "Logic makes a comeback", a while back.

_____________________________________________________________
| Russell Stewart |
| http://www.rt66.com/diamond/ |
|_____________________________________________________________|
| Albuquerque, New Mexico | diamond@rt66.com |
|_____________________________|_______________________________|

Tautology
(n) See truism.

Truism
(n) See tautology.