Q&A: The Rabbi's Ethics and Professor Enoch
The Rabbi's Ethics and Professor Enoch
Question
Hi Rabbi Michi (this isn’t really a question, more of a feeling). I watched the discussion you took part in at "Alma" on the question of whether morality can exist without God, and during the discussion it seemed that the Rabbi was kind of "going along" with Professor Enoch’s argument that if we think God is the source of morality, then I would have to accept this concept called God, and that’s unreasonable. But that ignores the discussion, because the question was whether morality has to have validity, and on that he didn’t answer; he only said that according to your view it wouldn’t be reasonable to accept the thesis. But according to his own view, the solution doesn’t even get off the ground, since he has no answer to that, and he kept trying to shift the discussion to that place. I was a bit surprised by the Rabbi, who was too nice to him and didn’t insist on that point. And in general the Rabbi is known for his aggressiveness (I mean that as praise), and it’s a shame that it didn’t come through there.
Answer
I didn’t understand the question. As far as I remember, I definitely did insist. Were you expecting me to hit him or yell at him? I wasn’t going along with any of his arguments. That is exactly what we were arguing about.
Discussion on Answer
See column 456 (and also a bit of 457).
The Rabbi said there many times that he agrees with him on most things, almost to the point that it isn’t easy to see what exactly you disagree about. I’d be glad to know what you do agree with him about.
For those who aren’t willing to accept God as the one who gives validity to morality, what is their usual excuse in response to the question of where morality’s validity comes from? (He simply didn’t answer, he just kept throwing questions back at you.) If you have a column on the subject, Rabbi, that would be great. And in general I was unpleasantly surprised by the level of Professor Enoch’s arguments (they know how to speak in lofty language and throw in fancy words, but the content is pretty empty and doesn’t really renew or add anything).