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Comment by ctulek | Hacker News Reader

If we agree that most of the wars and immoral things are done in the name of god, I think being theist or not is irrelevant to posses moral values.

I don't think it is in princible impossible to find objective moral values hardwired in our brains that makes us uncomfortable when we do things that is not good for ourselves, or our families, or society.

Last few centuries helped us to trash so many believes that were basically wrong (and amazingly it was even trashing itself every decade now thanks to scientific methods), I don't see any reason that is also not possible for morality, which My gut feeling says is probably a mental optical illusion like thinking the world is flat.

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But if it's a mechanism of our bodies, while it might be "objective" in the sense that it's a physical thing, it's still relative to each human. Just like someone is born tall or bow-legged, one might be born with 'wires' that make them uncomfortable with different things. If they act accordingly, are they moral? Even if what they do makes most others uncomfortable?

It will be indeed as "objective" as what medicine/biology defines someone "healthy". That being said, we already define certain categories when it comes to disabilities, and with very few disputes. Moral values could also be like that, and indeed its like that for who are legally called psychopaths and such.

Anyway, I think the author of the article linked in the root comment is looking for something more divine for moral values, but as a disappointment, just repeats the same rituals of thousand year old fallacies like as if theist believes have objective basis from which other objective basis can be inferred.

I agree with your assessment of the article, I just don't think taking the average of relative moralities makes for an objective morality, at least as the word is used in this context.

Can you be more specific? What is the fallacy?

Sure. It is a fallacy that one can provide me an objective definition of Christianity or any religion in that regard.

Not a fallacy.

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