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Originally Posted by JohnPlace  What I'm saying is that logic is *not* the answer to everything for everybody. And keep in mind, that's always been a tough pill to swallow for me because I'm a highly analytical person by nature. |
Well no. But surely there are options other than logic and spirituality. Human compassion and other emotional cues, for example.
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Originally Posted by JohnPlace Think of the parent who loses a child. Although he hasn't prayed in years (and may even consider himself to be an atheist), his grief may cause him to cry out to a higher power because no earthly knowledge can console him -- this need for comfort from a "greater than human" force is universal and can be found in every culture. |
Or perhaps the grief has just caused him to regress to the (religious) security blanket of his youth. Would he cry out to God if he had not been raised religious?
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Originally Posted by JohnPlace Now think of the man who is trying to decide whether or not it's morally wrong to cheat on his wife. Science cannot answer this question for him. To solve the riddle, he has two choices: he can rely on his own logical axioms, or he can rely on the guidance contained in a religious book thought to be sacred by his culture. |
Again there are options other than logic, science or spirituality. How about his own gut feelings on the matter? (Incidentally, since he's phrased the question in terms of 'cheating' I'd say that he considers it wrong).
Any system that relies on external input to tell a person the difference between 'right' and 'wrong' is flawed. That knowledge needs to be intrinsic to an individual, not extrinsic.