Originally posted by seer
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I'm a rational agent interacting with others. If I suffer and know this is bad, I know that it is bad for others too. If I am rational, I can model myself and others and think modally and hypothetically about possibilities. This leads to thinking in modes like 'would' should' etc. It leads to thinking about 'oneself' in abstraction as opposed to myself as a concrete actual person. Badness and goodness become understood as qualities that are generalizable to all sentient, ie conscious beings. These abilities lead to moral thought in terms of general principles that can be overridden. I come to see myself and my needs and desires from the outside to a large extent, in terms of abstract universalizable principles under ideally rational conditions.
Tell me how exactly does God make something right? How does God make something good? Why should I do X merely because God commands it? Because He is the biggest, strongest Guy around? Or because He's going to lay some hurt down on me if I don't? Are those proper motivations to be moral? Or do I do what's right because of the moral law written on the heart? But if it's written on the heart, then it's an intrinsic part of the process of rational moral deliberation, and if this is the case, why do we need God as the source of morality? God could still exhort us, be an example, forgive us, embody goodness, etc....
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