Abort, abort, abort!

I had grand plans for the remainder of this summer, which included reading Common Sense, The Prince, and Letter To A Christian Nation. However, I'm now back at university and the semester course work is already looking pretty intense (I have had two days of classes and already have two essays due by the end of this week). Since I don't anticipate having any free time, I'm going to scrap the plan to finish my summer readings. Instead, I'll be blogging about stuff that pops up in class. Never fear, though, because I expect religion to make many appearances. I'm taking a philosophy class, a couple US politics classes, and one about the Arab world. All have great potential for some infuriating invasions by religion. In fact, it's already happened.

Setting: "Individual Freedom vs. Authority"
Time: 11:20 AM-12:35 PM
Topic: Absolute Truth

After complaining about the lack of seating, lack of a podium, and overabundance of students in his class, the professor suddenly threw out the question, "Is there such a thing as absolute truth?" Silence. Eventually someone asked what absolute truth was, and the professor explained that absolute truth was the idea that there are "correct" answers when it comes to questions of morality and politics. The concept can also be applied to the physical world in so far as it means that the entire universe is controlled by the same physical laws (gravity, etc.). I was excited for an intelligent discussion.

After a few quips such as, "The only absolute truth is that there is no absolute truth, lol," someone raised their hand and said, "For there to be an absolute correct answer to a moral question, there would have to be some kind of supreme judge, and since religion is man-made..." The professor stopped them short. "Woah now, religion is man-made? That's quite a bold statement isn't it?" No, it's not, sir. Let her finish. I already don't like this guy. Another student raises his hand. "If there is a god with a capital G, then he can know the absolute truths and can tell them to people." I thought I'd like him after he said "god with a capital G" but then I changed my mind after he got into a chat with the professor in which the professor agreed with the student and used good ol' Hitler as an example of why if there is no absolute truth then we can't say that genocide is wrong, or something equally as nonsensical.

Here's the deal: For there to be an absolute correct answer on questions of morality, there would have to be a supreme outside judge who made and knew the rules. There would have to be some kind of score card at the end of life that graded our performance. There is none of that. There is no "good" and "bad," but there certainly are actions that are beneficial or detrimental to the individual or group's survival. Killing a neighbor is detrimental to their survival and to the group's, since the group has lost a member. Our societal structure then calls this action that is harmful to it "bad" and punishes those who do it. Morality and "good" and "bad" actions, therefore, are relative terms depending on the society involved.

Stay tuned for more.