#ethics

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis argues that human beings cannot be truly good or moral without faith in God and without submis- sion to the will of Christ. Unfortunately, Lewis does not provide any actual data for his assertions. They are nothing more than the mild musings of a wealthy British man, pondering the state of humanity’s soul between his sips of tea. Had Lewis actually famil- iarized himself with real human beings of the secular sort, per- haps sat and talked with them, he would have had to reconsider this notion. As so many apostates explained to me, morality is most certainly possible beyond the confines of faith. Can people be good without God? Can a moral orientation be sustained and developed outside of a religious context? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding yes. ↗

— Phil Zuckerman

#atheism #ethics #morality #morals #religion

The greater puzzle of universal wisdom and beauty that we have strived to honor through our work includes the profound legacies of world artistic and spiritual traditions, the innate integrity of human communities where people seek to live in social harmony, and that regenerative stream of life sustained upon the earth itself as it spins through the cosmos to the music of the spheres. ↗

— Luther E. Vann

#art #art-books #beauty #communities #creativity

If you want to test cosmetics, why do it on some poor animal who hasn't done anything? They should use prisoners who have been convicted of murder or rape instead. So, rather than seeing if perfume irritates a bunny rabbit's eyes, they should throw it in Charles Manson's eyes and ask him if it hurts. ↗

— Ellen DeGeneres

#animal-rights #animal-testing #animal-welfare #animals #cosmetics

Jesus was not content to derive his ethics from the scriptures of his upbringing. He explicitly departed from them. [...] Since a principal thesis of this chapter is that we do not, and should not, derive our morals from scripture, Jesus has to be honoured as a model for that very thesis. ↗

— Richard Dawkins

#jesus #morality #scripture #scripture

It is naively assumed that the fact that the majority of people share certain ideas and feelings proves the validity of these ideas and feelings. Nothing could be further from the truth. Consensual validation as such has no bearing on reason or mental health. ↗

— Erich Fromm

#ethics #humanist-psychology #mental-health #socio-analysis #culture

People who try hard to do the right thing always seem mad. ↗

— Stephen King

#morality #morals

Am I a good person? Deep down, do I even really want to be a good person, or do I only want to seem like a good person so that people (including myself) will approve of me? Is there a difference? How do I ever actually know whether I'm bullshitting myself, morally speaking? ↗

— David Foster Wallace

#happyness #morality #morals

You get lazy, you get sad. Start givin' up. Plain and simple. ↗

— James Dashner

#ethics

You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity. ↗

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

#vegetarianism #ethics

If there were a party of those who aren't sure they're right, I'd belong to it. ~(Camus, as quoted by Tony Judt) ↗

— Albert Camus

#ethics #philosophy #tony-judt #ethics