Last night, as I was surfing the internet, I accidentally came across some victim-based porn. Just watching the first few seconds of it gave me a sick feeling deep in my stomach, and it led me to ask the question ¡°is there an absolute system of morality?¡± [Note: I realize this has nothing to do with living in Korea, but it¡¯s important enough for me to share].

             For a Christian and people of other faiths with morality systems, the answer is quite easy. They say, ¡°Sure there¡¯s an absolute system of morality, and it¡¯s found in our sacred Scriptures.¡± As appealing as that answer sometimes is to me, there are too many contradictions and nonsensical morals in most religious systems. I have to answer this question as an atheist, and as an atheist, it is much harder to answer. If there is no God, no divinity who has set down rules to follow, how can there be an absolute, objective morality? On the other hand, if morality is subjective, rape, the Holocaust, and religious wars are all ok within the culture in which they take place. I cannot believe in this subjective morality, and my only reason for not believing it is the sick feeling I get by calling it subjective. So I must answer for myself how an atheist can have an objective morality, thereby being able to call victim-based porn (and other atrocities) evil.

             The only semi-satisfying answer I have been able to muster is what follows.  We all come from apes, or ape-like humanoids, who had certain clan-based moralities to ensure survival and prime living conditions within that community. As the human ¡°clan¡± became larger and more spread out territorially, this clan-based morality applied to a larger and larger group. Fast forward hundreds of thousands of years, and we come to today. Those of us who are enlightened see the world community as our clan, and, therefore, act civilly towards others and attempt to facilitate an environment which ensures our ¡°family¡± survival and, conversely, the absence of suffering. It is an evolution-based morality that is rooted in survival. Because it is rooted in nature, and nature is objective, the morality is therefore objective. As a result, victim-based porn (and the other atrocities against individuals or humanity at large you may think of) is truly evil, and should be fought

 

Èï¹Ì·Î¿î ¾ê±â³×¿ä. ^^

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