Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
Why is it normally wrong to kill a person?	tonyrey	08/08/06
Would killing a person in normal circumstances cease to be wrong if the majority decided it is not wrong? If not why not?
Clarification/Follow-up by tonyrey on 08/08/06 8:09 pm: Ken, "in normal circumstances" is intended to exclude cases like self-defence. The majority do not decide what is true but do they decide what is right? If they do not what does? Clarification/Follow-up by tonyrey on 08/09/06 7:29 am: Jim, We certainly have the ability to make moral judgements regardless of what is required by any authority, human or non-human. Socrates showed that what is right is not determined by the will of the gods but there is no reason why it should not be identical to what they command. If God is good it necessarily follows that what God commands is good. This need not imply that goodness is somehow prior to, or independent of, God. God can be equated with goodness and love. You are right in saying different moral judgements would arise if the world were otherwise than it is. Undoubtedly killing would not be wrong if it were the only way to survive. It is a moral absolute that we conform with our nature. Moral principles are unquestionably cultural artifacts but they are not arbitrary. They have arisen, as you say, because they specify behaviors that have helped culture survive. Killing one another is wrong because it negates the survival, development and happiness of social beings. Morality is insight into the nature of reality.
Answered By		Answered On
Jon1667		08/08/06
Normal? But to answer your question directly, obviously not. The reason is that the majority does not decide truth.

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