Reply #197: Lets cut to the chase, shall we?

[Strong Atheist]

I do not understand why you believe what you believe

Here is the way I see matters of "morality".


The universe can be broken up into "things" (matter and energy) and their relations to each other in time and space (which may also be "things", or A thing, but I am not going to worry about the physics here). Thing #1 is separated from thing #2 by a certain amount of space at time #1. It is separated by less space at time #2, etc.

These all fall into the category that I call "facts". They ARE relations, regardless of what anyone thinks of them.

Then there are thoughts/concepts/ideas. These can either be true, in that they accurately reflect reality (to some degree, I mean we are told that "solid" objects are mostly empty space, but for my purposes our senses on the macro level reflect A macro truth), or false because they do not reflect reality. "The Earth is more or less spherical" is a true concept, because it reflects reality. "The Earth is flat" is a false concept, because it does not even come close to accurately reflecting reality.

Finally, there are emotions/opinions. These are ideas about reality that are neither true nor false; they are SUBJECTIVE impressions of reality. They are "true" only to the individual. "I like ice cream" and "Murder is wrong" are both emoting statements that are neither true nor false IN REALITY; they express my opinions on facts.

Example: A finger squeezes a trigger. A bullet moves through space and time, and strikes a person in the chest, killing that person.

These are all facts. Any MORAL statements about them are opinions, and as such are subjective.

THAT is how I view things, to answer your question. WHY[/b} I believe it is because, after thought, it is what seems to be the case to me. That is, I think all of these views accurately reflect how things are.