Reconciling morality with atheism

[kahljorn]

If the net value of my action is immoral, the result of my action will be negative, regardless of whether or not I understand the rules... just as were I to dump a spoonful of phosphorous into a glass of water I would likely get burned were I a caveman or a chemist.

that's not necessarily true, at all. It might be immoral to kill, and then you kill a bunch of child rapists and it has a good result. Does that make it right to kill child rapists?
There's lots of things which can have good results, or even harmless results, but would be considered immoral.

uhh, and if you were a caveman and you killed someone what would the negative consequence be, exactly? Getting locked up in caveman jail? the demise of Mayor Cavemammon which collapses all of caveman society!? What if you stole another caveman's banana?
what does negative consequence mean, anyway, and in reference to what is it negative to? If I slaughtered the entire human race it might have a positive result in reference to the planet earth and the animals which live on it.

[Preechr]

Originally Posted by kahljorn

that's not necessarily true, at all. It might be immoral to kill, and then you kill a bunch of child rapists and it has a good result. Does that make it right to kill child rapists?
There's lots of things which can have good results, or even harmless results, but would be considered immoral.

Originally Posted by preechr

NET value... NET

Originally Posted by kahljorn

uhh, and if you were a caveman and you killed someone what would the negative consequence be, exactly? Getting locked up in caveman jail? the demise of Mayor Cavemammon which collapses all of caveman society!? What if you stole another caveman's banana?
what does negative consequence mean, anyway, and in reference to what is it negative to? If I slaughtered the entire human race it might have a positive result in reference to the planet earth and the animals which live on it.

You are answering your own questions.

Here's how I'm gonna answer you: If the net effect of human existence was a negative in terms of the world, as you seem to be proposing, then does committing immoral acts always or even generally result in a positive effect on the actor? Do you get where I am taking you?

[Preechr]

G'night Kahl... Nice to have you back.