Morality and faith
Hello,
During the Introduction to Philosophy course, and also in the trilogy, you indicate that you have difficulty seeing the validity of morality without belief in an external commandment about morality (God).
I assume that the book of moral laws that God gave is, according to you, the Torah, and we are required to derive the OWT from the verses and commandments.
The question that occurred to me in this context is: When is a verse a “moral statement” and when is it a “religious commandment without a moral context”?
Are “Thou shalt not murder” and “Thou shalt not leave any of it until morning” both moral imperatives?
thanks,
No. Morality is ingrained in us and does not need the Torah for it. God rebukes Cain for murder before commanding him to do so. The verse tells us, “And you have done what is right and good” and does not specify what is right and good. The assumption is that we understand this on our own (we learn modesty from a cat, etc.). On the contrary, my argument is that the halakha does not teach morality at all, including prohibitions against murder and theft, etc. These are religious prohibitions that add a religious level above the moral level that already exists before and without them. I expanded on this at the beginning of the third book of the trilogy, and in particular in the series of video lessons on halakha and morality.
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