tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post8125076317795887652..comments2024-03-29T10:12:07.396-04:00Comments on Vital Remnants: Gay Penguins and the Inductive Argument from HellMartin Cothranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16452612266051351726noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-70383563292492677302008-07-16T23:35:00.000-04:002008-07-16T23:35:00.000-04:00As has been discussed here, these are merely descr...As has been discussed here, these are merely descriptions of natural behavior. ["Natural" means occurring with no forcing.] Any prescription is done by MC, FJB, and/or JE. [Whose unstated assumption appears to be that anything natural is ok.] As Mr Cothran has pointed out above, cannibalism occurs in animals and humans. Yet most, Christian and non-Christian, scientist and non-scientist, will Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-60945382099917470912008-07-16T23:20:00.000-04:002008-07-16T23:20:00.000-04:00FJB "Any moral position that begins with "I want" ...FJB "Any moral position that begins with "I want" "<BR/><BR/>? Who wrote that?<BR/><BR/>jahAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-44229247271028941632008-07-16T18:11:00.000-04:002008-07-16T18:11:00.000-04:00Alan,Far be it from me to question Cole Porter's q...Alan,<BR/><BR/>Far be it from me to question Cole Porter's qualifications as a moral philosopher.<BR/><BR/>You say that science is descriptive, but not prescriptive, but if I take <I>that</I> statement as a descriptive statement, I find that it is not always the case. I think the present article is a case in point. In fact it is not at all uncommon to hear scientists speaking prescriptively.<BRMartin Cothranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16452612266051351726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-14823634967117885332008-07-16T17:01:00.000-04:002008-07-16T17:01:00.000-04:00MC: ...but I'm just waiting for the same people wh...MC: ...but I'm just waiting for the same people who say that the Louisiana Science Education Act will certainly impose religion in Louisiana schools (despite the fact that a) it won't, and b) it clearly says it doesn't mean that) to say that this passage doesn't imply that bisexuality should be considered acceptable...<BR/><BR/>We know what the Louisiana act is about, who is behind it, and what Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-24138903283897944822008-07-16T15:46:00.000-04:002008-07-16T15:46:00.000-04:00So the crux of your argument is that Cole Porter s...So the crux of your argument is that Cole Porter songs tend to be poor moral guides? Lol?<BR/><BR/>Seriously, the use of the phrase 'Darwinist ethics' is oxymoronic. Neither Classical Darwinism nor the Modern Synthesis contain any moral code at all. Certain biologists may employ the Naturalistic Fallacy, but Biology does not; science is descriptive, not prescriptive.<BR/><BR/>Yet the science of Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15974499792188086777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-14823900398326025532008-07-16T12:21:00.000-04:002008-07-16T12:21:00.000-04:00"Mr Cothran seems to believe that the only decent ..."Mr Cothran seems to believe that the only decent morality has to be imposed from outside humanity. Thus a secular humanistic concept of treating others as they wish to be treated is inherently inferior to a religiously based `absolute' standard."<BR/><BR/>If a Malthusian logician were assessing these two sentences he would have to conclude that he had come upon a straw man population explosion.<Francis Beckwithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03765632359220115150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-21258740547519782142008-07-16T08:54:00.000-04:002008-07-16T08:54:00.000-04:00Jah,The relevant language is here:These observatio...Jah,<BR/><BR/>The relevant language is here:<BR/><BR/><I>These observations suggest to some that bisexuality is a natural state among animals, perhaps Homo sapiens included, despite the sexual-orientation boundaries most people take for granted. “[In humans] the categories of gay and straight are socially constructed,” Anderson says.</I><BR/><BR/>I suppose you could say that it doesn't say Martin Cothranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16452612266051351726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-77940865971461150692008-07-15T22:40:00.000-04:002008-07-15T22:40:00.000-04:00Did I read the same article Mr Cothran and Mr Elli...Did I read the same article Mr Cothran and Mr Ellis did? I see nothing about "justification" and "People are doing these things so they must be natural and therefore good".<BR/>The observations are that homosexuality is not uncommon among animals. Where do all the conclusions that Messrs. Cothran and Ellis draw come from?<BR/>Homosexuality can be observed among animals, including human. By most Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-54570541550689733482008-07-15T07:42:00.000-04:002008-07-15T07:42:00.000-04:00This kind of justification, "because other do it",...This kind of justification, "because other do it", is the same kind of adolescent reasoning teens use when asking a parent if they can do something their parents would not normally allow. It is the same kind of reasoning Kinsey used in his studies of sexuality in the human male and female. Studying behavior patterns is one thing, but to then move on to say "People are doing these things so theyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11542449.post-9423357180718293922008-07-14T22:45:00.000-04:002008-07-14T22:45:00.000-04:00MC: So far as I know, there is no name for a parti...MC: So far as I know, there is no name for a particular kind of science article in which an observation is offered of some sort of animal behavior, and then, under the Darwinian assumption that humans are simply advanced animals, concludes that the behavior is somehow indicative of how humans too should be able to act.<BR/><BR/>I suspect the name would be "nonexistent". The Scientific American Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com