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Old 09-07-2004, 11:34 PM   #12 (permalink)
Halx
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If morals are to be written into public guidelines as they are today (read: FCC, decency) then a personal interpretation of morality is null and void.

I argue that if you truely lack belief in a higher power, then your "morals" should logically fall along these lines: Since there is no higher authority to judge your behavior, then no behavior is off-limits, lest it cause harm to someone else. This is the very stripped-down skeleton framework of human interaction and comes without saying; thus not needing a title such as 'morality.' It's simply *being.*

Furthermore, if the rules of 'decency' that you impose on yourself are in place only to avoid stepping on the toes of others, then I would consider this "ethics."

If you lack belief in a higher power and still hold yourself to trite rules of personal conduct, I would consider it one of the following: masochism, silliness, ultra-neurotic.

To put it all together, while I do not believe that using swear words or walking around naked or masturbating frequently and kicking people in the shins will make a spot of difference where I end up when I'm dead, I still refrain from doing this around others (though, it would be MOST pleasing) because I intend to be a functioning member of society. These are not morals that I possess, these are ethics.
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