Re: [asa] Moral law - Francis Collins

--- David Opderbeck <dopderbeck@gmail.com> wrote(quoting Dick Fischer):

> *Whether Gentiles obey the law because they know what to do intuitively or
> whether they obey it because they know it is the law makes no
> difference. Whether you eat your porridge because you know it is good for
> you or because Mother tells you to eat it in the long run is unimportant.*
>
David responds
> It makes a big difference to the legitimacy of the rules. A rule is
> ultimately legitimate only if it is connected with something beyond merely
> the power of the person who promulgates it. Otherwise, Nietzsche was right,
> and law is nothing more than a particular arbitrary expression of the will
> to power.
>
Generally I agree with David. However, note that two different examples were
given by Dick: the example of why one might eat porridge, and the example of
why one might drive within the speed limit. In the first case (assuming
porridge is truly good for you :-)) it's an issue of conforming to the natural
laws of health as a function of what you eat. In the second it's an issue of
conforming with a man-made law, about which there might be a difference of
opinion (of course, whateve your opinion you're going to get a ticket if you're
caught speeding). It would be a good idea to separate these types of laws in
further discussion.

Aside: The speeding issue has recently come to a head in MI. On November 9 a
law went into effect that required speed limits on most roads to be adjusted to
values closer to what people actually drive (within the constraints of safety
of course). I haven't seen much effect on city streets, but the law resulted in
55 mph speed limits on many dirt roads, which has the residents up in arms. (In
MI it's "cool" to live on a dirt road, so some fairly wealthy people live on
dirt roads. I think they're crazy, but I didn't grow up in MI)

Bill Hamilton
William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
248.652.4148 (home) 248.821.8156 (mobile)
"...If God is for us, who is against us?" Rom 8:31

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Received on Mon Jan 1 08:46:44 2007