Re: Politics and morality

Ron Peterson wrote:

> Lucien Saumur <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > ... It is not to solve the problems of society but to
> > show how these problems may be solved.
>
> How can humanism show how to solve the problems of society?
>
> --
>    Ron

Humanism may help solve the problems of society by better understanding
the causes of these problems which are fundamentally philosophical in
nature. Philosophy is mainly concerned with language.

One of the problem which has haunted our society for a long time is that
of abortion. Those, who are opposed to abortion, have claimed that the
unborn is a human being and that, as a consequence, it has a right to
life and cannot be aborted. Those, who are not opposed to abortion
(including many 'humanists'), have claimed that the unborn is not yet a
human being and that it may be aborted. The problem appears insoluble.

Then what may humanists do to solve it? They may do so by firstly asking
why it matters if the unborn is a human being and why do human beings
have a right to life. Having done so, the humanists will then have to
deal with a more fundamental question which is "What is a right?" This
is the question that I have considered in another post and which offers
a solution to the problem of abortion. I have pointed out that 'rights'
simply do not exist in the world as independent entities but that they
are nothing more than the expression of one's power. One does not have a
right that one cannot defend which the unborn cannot do. Of course, the
objection that will immediately be expressed is that this would mean
that many human beings, who cannot defend their right to life, would not
have such a right. To this argument, the humanists must respond by
saying categorically that no human being has a right to life because, if
they had such a right, then no human being would ever die except by his
own hand. What is closer to the truth is that human beings do not have
the right to kill other human beings. This is closer to the truth but it
is not the whole truth. The fact is that some human beings kill other
human beings. What is more truthful is that human beings do not have the
right to kill other human beings without risking unpleasant
consequences. It is important to say 'risking' because some 'get away
with murder'. And where the 'unpleasant consequences' come from except
from the state and from the people who fear indiscriminate killing.

Let us now return to the abortion debate. It can be readily seen that
those who would allow abortion have failed to make any headway in this
debate because they have unthinkingly agreed with their opponents that
human beings have a right to life. Once they can respond, as I have, to
their opponents, then they may point out that it is not the unborn who
have a right to life but that it is the pro-life people who are claiming
a right to prevent and to punish abortion. The question then becomes:
"Why do they do it?" And they can no longer respond that the unborn is a
human being and therefore that it has a right to life. Nor can they
respond that they are threatened by abortion since they will never be
unborn again. They why are they opposed to abortion? They can only
respond that they either have a feeling of compassion for the unborn
else that they are obeying the will of God. These are the answers that
they have avoided until now because the problem has ceased to be about
abortion but it is now about the existence of God and about the nature
of his will, if he exists. Then why would God forbid abortion? It can
only be because of a divine feeling. In the end, opposition to abortion
is only about a feeling.

Let us finally deal with one last objection which will not fail to come.
If the unborn may be aborted by those who will never be unborn again,
then children may also be killed by those who will never be children
again. And the answer to this objection is that it is only because of
feelings that one may be opposed to the killing of children. In fact,
the truth is that it is always ultimately because of feelings that one
does anything. And the believers obey the will of God because they do
not feel like burning in hellfire for eternity.

This response was written in a hurry and may require some editing.