Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Do Materialists Believe Rape is Wrong?

Barry Arrington
February 25, 2012
Intelligent Design
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I have a question for our materialist friends. Let’s imagine a group of chimpanzees. Say one of the male chimps approaches one of the female chimps and makes chimp signals that he wants to have sexual relations with her, but for whatever reason she’s not interested and refuses. Is it morally wrong for the male chimp to force the female chimp to have sex with him against her will?

If you answer “no it is not morally wrong,” imagine further a group of humans. On the materialist view, a human is just a jumped up hairless ape. Is it morally wrong for a human male to force a human female to have sex with him against her will? If you answer “yes, it is morally wrong,” I certainly agree with you. But please explain why on the materialist view it is not wrong for a hairy ape to force a female to have sex with him, but it is wrong for a hairless ape to force a female to have sex with him.

Comments
Or perhaps they want to say both that humans are similar to chimps, and that humans are not similar to chimps? And, now, they are not allowed to say that (the LNC all over again)!ian4851
February 25, 2012
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First you have to ask if materialists believe that rape, or any crime, exists.Joe
February 25, 2012
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Today I want to argue that if God exists, then the objectivity of moral values, moral duties, and moral accountability is secured, but that in the absence of God, that is, if God does not exist, then morality is just a human convention, that is to say, morality is wholly subjective and non-binding. We might act in precisely the same ways that we do in fact act, but in the absence of God, such actions would no longer count as good (or evil), since if God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist. Thus, we cannot truly be good without God. On the other hand, if we do believe that moral values and duties are objective, that provides moral grounds for believing in God. ~ William Lane Craig If a person doesn’t think there is a God to be accountable to, then -- then what’s the point of trying to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges? That’s how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from the slime. When we, when we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing ~ Jeffrey Dahmerbevets
February 25, 2012
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Ha! Let's see them wiggle out of this conundrum.elpresidente
February 25, 2012
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An interesting perspective!Axel
February 25, 2012
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Though I adhere to methodological naturalism, I'm still annoyed when someone tries to make a point in a debate using rape as an example.DiEb
February 24, 2012
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