QUOTE (mklsgl @ Jul 19 2008, 10:09 PM)

If you believe that the universe is morally meaningless, then spirituality is non-existent. If you believe otherwise, then the incentive (as previously stated, but now reworded) is, in the words of Albert Camus, "just to see what happens next." Seems almost too simplistic, doesn't it? But, consider the sublime nature of human psychology; isn't it at it most instinctual level 'just to see what happens next'?
I find this a common theme among believers of a religion (not suggesting you are, just a comment) but isn't this view completely reward based, and based on a limited condition for that reward?
The implication being that there is some afterlife reward (hence the reference to spirituality) for being moral in life. What of a divinity that loves unconditionally? It matters not how you behave in this life, what sort of person you are. There is no incentive in this scenario to behave morally, yet the reward exists - as does spirituality.
Hitler would be sitting next to Gandhi swapping anecdotes in whatever afterlife paradise you conceive. Perhaps Jeffrey Dahmer could whip up some canapes?
I agree with the 'complex simplicity' of the human psyche. Often our motivations are amazingly simple, yet we wrap them up in layers of complex reasoning. The curse of higher intelligence, perhaps, is to divorce itself from the reality of action.
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Morality, like everything else in the universe, is in a constant state of flux. That being said, doesn't logic dictate that this incessant flow of change affects All Things from the personal to the societal to the global to the universal?
When we argue that personal, societal, and global morality is a sham; are we not confusing morality with ethics?
In the first point you make here are you referring, perhaps, to chaos theory and the butterfly effect? Looking at this from a universal perspective, the butterfly effect as it pertains to chaos theory is an attempt to explain how small variations in initial conditions can cause large (but not necessarily identical) variations in later conditions. Can we honestly say that our behaviour now could be determined to be part of the universe's initial conditions?
While we do not know the fate of the universe, and thus how much time it has left to continue, I would say this question is unanswerable and the point you are trying to make, moot - certainly not logical (or perhaps 'not reasonable' is a better description).
As for the second point, I would never argue that morality in any of it's environments is a sham (although I would perhaps argue such things as 'global morality' do not exist), but that morality is relative and dependent on many factors. I would certainly argue any attempt to define some absolute morality is a sham.
Can we be ethical without making moral judgements? You say we may be confusing morality and ethics, but I'd hesitate to describe a situation which could not be defined as either, or both.