The laws of nature are not moral. Nature simply is. It is humans, God, or the intrinsic Nature behind the apparent “nature” of science that passes moral judgment. Remember, science is about things as they are, whereas morality is about the way things ought to be.
Morality and all of its associated ideals are rooted entirely in the presupposition some higher power defines what is correct for human behavior.
Nature is pure war, with every man against another. Fear of death is the only way to keep peace; so man is civilized by the restraint of violence against him for transgressions upon his neighbor.
The argument of some higher purpose is religious fallacy and those who preach it are no different even if they CLAIM atheism. Some just want to set themselves up in a temple for others to genuflect before an assumed divinity.
The notion that children need to be indoctrinated and badgered into thinking a certain way is the insecurity of adults, a universal dissatisfaction with mortality reaching out for an eternal ideal. Whether this is done by atheists or by religionists, it is exactly the same.
“Morality and all of its associated ideals are rooted entirely in the presupposition some higher power defines what is correct for human behavior.”
That’s only true for those who hold that morality is absolute. Or if not absolute, flexible only to a certain extent. On the other hand, there are many of us who are perfectly arbitrary in our moral choices, who pull haphazardly from personal opinion, tradition, or what-have-you. Wouldn’t say they rely on any higher power, only a mixture of their own reason and accident.
“Nature is pure war, with every man against another. Fear of death is the only way to keep peace; so man is civilized by the restraint of violence against him for transgressions upon his neighbor.”
Have you been reading Hobbes?
“The notion that children need to be indoctrinated and badgered into thinking a certain way is the insecurity of adults”
Yes, and most adults are rightly insecure, because they don’t just want their kids to survive; they want them to prosper. Any random kid can learn how to live on his own, slowly, as he goes. He could benefit from guidance, even if he doesn’t have to listen to anyone if he chooses not to.
“a universal dissatisfaction with mortality reaching out for an eternal ideal”
Not sure how this fits the previous clause, but hey, yeah. Except most people aren’t dissatisfied with morality, at least not much more than they are disastisfied with flat tires and such. They are upset with particular parts of traditional and speculative morality, especially the parts that haven’t worked out for them. But their moral system is an iceburg. Only conscious of one-tenth. The rest they integrate into their thinking unthinkingly.
“Whether this is done by atheists or by religionists, it is exactly the same.”
I tend to agree. Lots of atheists are hardliners. Never understood why they carp on and on about how theists are wrong when they contend that there is no morality without god. You’ve just unbound yourself from Prometheus’ rock. Live a little!
They’re so damn quick to assert that we can have our Not-God and eat morality too. We can get rid of ugly, old prostration, trading it in for utilitarianism, “objectivism,” or Marxism. Oftener than not, trading it in for a more rigid system, and a system less likely to be sustained since, as I’ve mentioned, it is natural for people to be unconscious of most of their morality. Who wants to be a vegan, drive Yugos, take a bag along with you to the grocery store, etc., when it’s much easier to go to church once a year.
All this is why I enjoy people like James Fitzjames Stephen. I don’t want to say people who are honest, but people who are smart enough to realize that fine distinctions between good coercion and bad coercion are too clever. Coercion is coercion. Morality is about Force. Government is about Force.
In order to make people live a certain way, you’ve got to have Force, to use or for deterrence’s sake. At least in the beginning. After a while, you may use habit. But habit has to be butressed by Force.