Do rights exist?

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

36. For at least the second time, THE PARAGRAPH IS YOUR FRIEND.

When you come to the end of a pargraph, hit the return key TWICE (ie, 2 times). This will give you a blank line between your paragraphs, and make your posts easier to read. And if you are quoting Durant, then quotation marks would make it clear to the reader which statements are your and which are Durant's. One piece of advice that my freshman composition instructor gave is germane: "If you make something difficult to read, people will not read it." Incidentally, you say that I appear to be educated. Among other degrees, I have a masters in History of Religion from Harvard.

You keep saying, but do not back it up in any way, that reason cannot make a person moral. First, this is a vague statement. Do you mean that a completely amoral person could be turned into a moral person through the use of reason? Or do you mean that a person whose morals need, shall I say, improving, cannot gain such an improvement through reason? These are two quite different sets of circumstances, and I do not know which one you mean.

I believe that your statement in the first instance is at least arguable, although if the amoral person believed that amorality was not proper, then perhaps it might work. The second instance describes me, and I can tell you, from my own personal experience, that morals can be improved through reason. Of course, keep in mind the old joke: How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the light bulb really has to want to change. I wanted to improve my morals, which I saw as deficient, and through study and thought, I have done so.

Your latest seems to be all over the map. I suggest that you narrow what you want to write about, and stick to that.