Survival -- Adilbrand Noblesword's Hall of Warriors

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Date Posted: 17:31:11 04/07/04 Wed
Author: Adilbrand
Subject: Survival
In reply to: mvd 's message, "Murder; war and capital punishment" on 12:46:45 04/07/04 Wed

What is perhaps more interesting to discuss, however, is where do these societal conventions come from? They are obviously imagined and man-made. Therefore they must have some basis.

Perhaps I am over-simplifying, but the basis appears to me to be survival. Killing members of one's own society weakens the society (in theory), but killing members of competing societies weakens them.

Thus, it is okay to kill members of competing societies, but not one's own society. This is probably an over-simplification, but that is my initial thought. It is about the survival of a given society. I think most ethics and morals revolve around that issue. The basic question underlying most ethical questions is: What promotes the survival of one society over the competing societies?

Killing isn't the sin. Killing those who are on "your side" is, because that weakens your side. The same works with theft, honoring other gods, and just about every other supposed "sin".

The universal constant in ethical valuation seems to be "survival of the society."

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Replies:

Agreement -- mvd, 20:06:09 04/07/04 Wed
- Re: Agreement -- stu, 00:13:04 04/09/04 Fri
Re: Survival -- stu, 23:59:19 04/08/04 Thu
- In reaction to Stu: some broad thoughts, organized poorly for they are off of the top of my head. -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 17:17:24 04/10/04 Sat
  - Yikes -- mvd, 21:49:45 04/10/04 Sat
    - Re: Yikes -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 01:15:43 04/12/04 Mon
      - Re: Yikes -- stu, 04:52:41 04/12/04 Mon
        journalists -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 02:41:39 04/13/04 Tue
        LOL -- mvd, 15:25:03 04/13/04 Tue
        Re: LOL & Imagine as a mild communist document -- Mt. Healthy Mountaineer, 21:49:13 04/16/04 Fri
        Amazing -- mvd, 08:48:24 04/17/04 Sat
        Re: LOL & Imagine as a mild communist document -- stu, 15:32:19 04/17/04 Sat
        Re: LOL & Imagine as a mild communist document -- stu, 15:32:35 04/17/04 Sat
        Re: LOL & Imagine as a mild communist document -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 23:33:46 04/19/04 Mon
        Re: LOL & Imagine as a mild communist document -- stu, 01:39:18 04/20/04 Tue
        Re: LOL & Imagine as a mild communist document -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 21:25:46 04/22/04 Thu
        Re: LOL -- Adilbrand, 23:00:47 04/22/04 Thu
        Re: LOL -- mvd, 09:16:18 04/23/04 Fri
        Remeber -- stu, 17:42:29 04/24/04 Sat
        Remeber -- stu, 17:42:47 04/24/04 Sat
        reality -- stu, 16:32:12 04/13/04 Tue
      - Re: Yikes -- mvd, 09:20:40 04/12/04 Mon
  - off the top of my head -- stu, 23:26:02 04/10/04 Sat
    - Re: off the top of my head -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 01:36:02 04/12/04 Mon
      - Re: off the top of my head -- stu, 04:36:55 04/12/04 Mon
        culture -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 02:23:08 04/13/04 Tue
        Despite this -- mvd, 09:28:45 04/13/04 Tue
        Re: Despite this -- stu, 16:37:47 04/13/04 Tue
        Re: Despite this -- stu, 16:38:24 04/13/04 Tue
        Despite this -- Omega, 19:46:16 04/13/04 Tue
        Re: culture -- stu, 16:51:08 04/13/04 Tue
        Re: definitions -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 23:10:39 04/16/04 Fri
        Re: definitions -- stu, 15:39:04 04/17/04 Sat
        Re: definitions -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 00:13:17 04/20/04 Tue
        Re: definitions -- stu, 01:40:33 04/20/04 Tue
        Re: definitions -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 21:29:28 04/22/04 Thu
        Re: culture -- stu, 01:38:14 04/15/04 Thu
        Re: culture -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 23:13:02 04/16/04 Fri
        Re: culture -- stu, 05:32:42 04/17/04 Sat
        Re: culture -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 23:44:38 04/19/04 Mon
        Re: culture -- stu, 01:33:44 04/20/04 Tue
        Re: culture and Black assimilation & world gov't. -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 01:47:58 04/24/04 Sat
        Does assimilation to a certain culture make you unique? -- stu, 17:53:24 04/24/04 Sat
        Re: Does assimilation to a certain culture make you unique? (NT) -- stu, 17:53:55 04/24/04 Sat
        Re: culture and Black assimilation & world gov't. -- mvd, 22:12:44 04/24/04 Sat
        American Culture -- mvd, 09:27:25 04/20/04 Tue
        Re: American Culture -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 02:06:21 04/24/04 Sat
        Re: American Culture -- mvd, 19:23:04 04/24/04 Sat
        Re: American Culture -- mt. healthy mountaineer, 23:09:29 04/27/04 Tue