Comments by "coreycox2345" (@coreycox2345) on "Overcoming Nihilism" video.

  1. I did not attend a Catholic school but can relate to your comment. Some people are more comfortable conforming. I didn't have that choice, so I had to figure out my values for myself. I am pretty sure that I would not change things if I could because I have loved much of my work and life as a result.
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  2. To me, morality is doing what I perceive as the right thing. My ideas about this were formed by things I have experienced. Although we were not religious, my parent's thinking was consistent with the Judeo-Christian tradition. Because they were humans, also the Pagan tradition. Add in whatever random things life exposed me to and my intrinsic personality. This is a lot fuzzier than something like the law. I would have no qualms about killing Hitler if I had the chance. Squeaky Fromme had no qualms about shooting Ronald Reagan. How are we different? These examples of morality do not seem related to the social contract. They are more personal. My version of the social contract, which I may be taking liberties with...I restrain my impulses toward things that would be pleasant for me and unpleasant for other people in exchange for the belief that this will keep people from doing similar unpleasant things to me. That is somewhat like the golden rule in Christianity, but the idea that it is a contract implies that it could be broken. Because it is a contract, there are even times when it should be broken. It seems like this thinking is behind many laws, even behind the idea of police protection. (I am not saying that this is not a component to this in Christianity, which espouses an "eye for an eye.")
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  3. Being religious or not has little to do with morality.
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  4. OK Judaism, Christianity...but this does not exclude Christianity. The reason I mentioned an eye for an eye is that it is the closest thing I can think of as a penalty clause for human on human crime. We apparently have God's permission to be horrible to people who treat us badly. Do you think that there is a God in Heaven who thought up our ideal moral code and wrote it on stone tablets? I don't see how either is not just something we made up. It sounds like murder and slavery do not fit your concept of "good." Mine either.
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  5. This all makes sense to me, I just don't agree that life is pointless. I have felt that way before. I like the second line. To me, that seems like purpose.
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