tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post753593643610984970..comments2023-07-05T08:17:21.505-04:00Comments on Getting to the Point: Something That Resists MeFr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-79841808801255551652014-10-30T14:51:42.997-04:002014-10-30T14:51:42.997-04:00Thanks, Neil - always great to hear from you, by t...Thanks, Neil - always great to hear from you, by the way. I think the best we can hope for from non-theistic ethics is a provisional system that works by general consensus - I don't think ultimately the whole can hold water, intellectually. While natural law theories are (theoretically) attainable by reason, my general understanding of the subject (imperfect, I realize) is that they do require the positing of the existence of God, as otherwise there would be no moral or rational significance to the 'way things are/work'. So again, while NL ethics are something that can be reasoned and hence discussed by reasonable people (as opposed to "It's evil because GOD SAID SO"), the theory itself requires at least positing 'God' in some form.Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-3818146314477660342014-10-30T13:35:18.397-04:002014-10-30T13:35:18.397-04:00Thanks for the quote from Danielou. It's very ...Thanks for the quote from Danielou. It's very challenging and gets right to the heart of our life with God.<br /><br />I have some sympathy with the idea that "if God is dead than all is licit." It is not clear to me whether a non-theistic system of ethics can really stand up to difficult testing. I'm not sure, I go back and forth on that. But isn't the point of natural law theories to ground ethics in something other than the authority of God and thereby make it possible to have a fruitful discussion across religions and cultures? How do you think such a discussion should be approached?Neil Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06447274994087291780noreply@blogger.com