For example, is "It is wrong to kill" a true moral statement or merely a statement of opinion and could as well be stated "I think it is wrong to kill" ?

Might have been asked here before, but I tried to search for something but didn't find any. Anyway, would be interesting to hear some of the ppl on this forum's arguments

Personally I would say there are no moral truths, and I would be really interested in hearing arguments against this

quote:

Originally posted by St_Andrew For example, is "It is wrong to kill" a true moral statement or merely a statement of opinion and could as well be stated "I think it is wrong to kill" ? Might have been asked here before, but I tried to search for something but didn't find any. Anyway, would be interesting to hear some of the ppl on this forum's arguments Personally I would say there are no moral truths, and I would be really interested in hearing arguments against this

St. Andrew, the nihilist. Sorry, I just had to interject that.

I suppose it can be relative, but there are certainly some moral truths that are more common and widely agreed upon than others.

Killing depends on who's being killed and who's doing the killing I'd guess...and why. The Tookie Williams murders were wrong by most standards...and imho, killing him as retribution and as a deterrent to other would-be murders, is perfectly necessary and acceptable by my same standards.

Die soon and die hard, "Tookie"...yah mutha-fucka.

If people hold moral values, then they are quantifiable and necessarily "objective". If they have objectivity, then they have a determinable "truth value". If moral values possess truth value, then it is possible to empirically (not rationally!) determine right from wrong.

In short, people create moral values subjectively, propogate and act upon them objectively and enforce them inter-subjectively. So there's 500 years of Western moral theory unified by one single sentence - when do I get my paycheck?

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quote:

Originally posted by Renegade If people hold moral values, then they are quantifiable and necessarily "objective". If they have objectivity, then they have a determinable "truth value". If moral values possess truth value, then it is possible to empirically (not rationally!) determine right from wrong.

I really don't get this reasononing, please elaborate?

Only thing I can make out of it, is that you are making lots o assumptions...

St. Andrew, people far and wide are great at rationalizing just about anything, so in that regard, you'll probably rarely find one if there is one.

So in that regard, if you are willing to qualify the statement a little more and give some context to it, then you might get closer. Unless that happens to be what you're trying to steer away from.

And it doesn't help when people from different walks of life all have different sets of morals. And this is yet another reason I like Ayn Rand so much.