Reply #127: I'll answer, article by article" [View All]

[iconicgnom]

You say:
"you are the one laughing about certain things, not me, and insulting as well, why if you want to insult, sure, I can play that game as well... and you are willfully ignorant. "

I say:
OK, when you say that I'm "uncredentialed" unless I pass some test of yours, it isn't an insult. The insulting thing is that I don't want to play that particular game. Poor you.

You say:
"But lets try to explain this to you as a baby
Why is it that there is no morality in war, because it cannot be enforced.
You need laws, those are ethics based... not morality based, especially when the arrows, hot oil or bullets start flying.
You might be shocked by this statement, but most folks, confuse ethics and morality. it happens all the time"

I say:
In your view, ethics based laws are distinguished from morality based laws, when the arrows, hot oil or bullets start flying. I give you enormous credit for poetry, but not logic.

You say:
"Now from the beginning, what is the Western basis of moral tradition?
Though shall not kill... it is in that silly code of law called the ten commandments, which actually goes back to the Hammurabi Code."

I say:
I agree that "thou shalt not kill" goes a long way back.

You say:
"Explain to the class how this moral standard can be eliminated in the environment of kill or be killed but you can still have morals and a moral code?"

I say:
But that's the very essence of morality, or ethics. These are synonyms.

You say:

"Why what you have is ethics, and laws, in the western tradition going back to the Just War Doctrine, which is ETHICS based, not morality based, and our first attempt to actually set a modern group of laws to protect civilians during war time, that goes back to the origin of the nation state by the way, in the sixteenth century... and I am proof positive that you know that... NOT."

I say:

I think you have a lot to learn.

You conclude:
"Go ask people who know about his, I recommend an international jurist or two.

You may think this is ridiculous... but this is a very technical distinction, one you are having trouble with... and you are not alone

But as a serious student of history.. and more than just a dabbler in these ethics based rules... I don't discount a civil war in the US either. And if it happens again, you will have to become conversant with this, to a point, especially if you are near front lines. Oh wait, modern civil wars don't have those animals... hmmm... front lines, what the hell is that? I am sure you will tell me otherwise as well and laugh as well."

I say:

You haven't shown to me that there's a substantive distinction between 'ethics' and 'morality'.
You haven't shown your case.