Right and Wrong

[Thesavorofpan]

Right and wrong are gauged by the consequences of an action, and whether or not the positive results outweigh the negative results.

Thats a nice explaination.

 

[Midnight Pete]

If I were to drive 100 mph, that would be wrong on the highway but right on a racetrack.
That is the kind of thing I mean. But I like what someone else said about correct/incorrect.

Very good, Chrinstine!

Correctness and incorrectness are conditional. But is is that true for right/wrong? I think so, but then again the duality of right/wrong can be defined in so many different ways.

I like my definition the best.

 

[arun]

Why is it then that so many people disagree about what is right and what is wrong?

There is always a 'social conscience' developed among the people. It represents the morality, sexual conduct, good manners etc... And it is universal. All the nations agree upon freedom, peace, justice, and human rights. It is true that some group of people like terrorists always disagree with this. But such people are a small minority. Otherwise the world would not have existed.

Sometimes we may doubt about the basis of all these things like morality and do bad things. It is like a ball thrown into the air, how long can it go? There is always a limit and by the gravitational force it falls down. So we cannot become too bad, there is something inside, a soul or heart which pulls us back to the good. And this soul is responsible for the social conscience.

So gravitation is a phenomenon, it just happens .like that morality or social conscience is also a phenomenon. And I think that both atheists and theists agree upon the existence of such a phenomenon and debate over its cause.

First we should accept the goodness, appreciate it and make it part of our life, then only we can even think of finding its source.

I think Swami Vivekanda's sayings are relevant here:

“Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being.”

“The goal of mankind is knowledge ... Now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man 'knows', should, in strict psychological language, be what he 'discovers' or 'unveils'; what man 'learns' is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.”

 

[Beaudreaux]

There is always a 'social conscience' developed among the people. It represents the morality, sexual conduct, good manners etc... And it is universal. All the nations agree upon freedom, peace, justice, and human rights. It is true that some group of people like terrorists always disagree with this. But such people are a small minority. Otherwise the world would not have existed.

This is simply not true. China, the most populous nation on the planet, has VERY different ideas about freedom, peace justice and human rights. European countries disagree with the American stance on capital punishment and human rights. And why are we at the nation level anyway??? Your stated position is that every individual has the same innate ideas of what is right and what is wrong. Find me 10 that agree on all morals and we can maybe talk. Good luck.

 

[thedope]

Owing to our level of uncertainty, a better question would be, is it true or false.