If we and all other forms of life arose as the product of purely naturalistic forces, with no intervention from any sort of Higher Being, then WHY should life be viewed as having any value whatsoever? If you are just the product of chemical reactions which happened without any sort of intelligent input, then why is it any more "wrong" to kill you than it is to snuff out a candle flame?
In fact, if we are just the result of naturalistic process, then how can ANYTHING be said to be "right" or "wrong". How would the extermination of the entire human race be "wrong" if said race is just the product of purely naturalistic occurrences? If we are just the product of a chain of chemical reactions going back to a bunch of amino acids combining for the first time, then how are we different than a cock-roach? Or the fizz from baking soda and vinegar mixing?
You cannot argue for "morality" unless you argue that human beings MATTER for some reason. With naturalistic evolution, you cannot assume that we do. All atheistic arguments for the existence of morality presuppose that human beings still MATTER, that human life is still valuable. But they never answer WHY human life should have value if said human life evolved without God.
This is not an argument for or against Evolution. This is just show that IF you accept naturalistic evolution, you must accept that there is no reason to assign human life, or any other life, any particular value. Nor to believe in any sort of morality.
更新1:
Mandrake:
That's not how an "argument" works. If 90% of what someone says is wrong, one cannot conclude that the next thing he/she says is wrong. Each statement must be evaluated on it's own merits. But if we want to talk about wrong statements;
1. Christians believe the lives of non-Christians matter so much that The One True and Living God became a human and DIED for those very non-Christians.
2. Just because what we believe doesn't agree with YOUR beliefs does not make them "wrong".
更新2:
Mandrake:
(continued)
3. Your third point does not follow logically, nor is it based upon anything other than your own prejudice.
更新3:
So, I'm getting a lot of answers along the same theme. Many of these answer boil down to, "Life has value because we SAY it has value". Well, that only works if you can prove that we are capable of conferring value on something by saying it has value. Certainly, we can create the ILLUSION of value. We can ASSUME value. But that doesn't mean there is REALLY any inherent value.
Some of you admit that. Some of you admit that this ILLUSION of value is the best we can do. At least that's honest.
更新4:
I have to admit, there were many good, honest answers from the Atheist side basically AGREEING that if we just arose through purely naturalistic means then the human race really DOESN'T have any inherent or intrinsic value. But that still begs the question as to why things like murder are "wrong". Certainly we can't TOLLERATE such things in a functional society! I'm not suggesting we could. I'm speaking of Good and Evil as transcendent concepts.
更新5:
Again, thank you to so many people for your honest answers. Choosing BA is actually going to be tough, which is why I have put it off for so long.
✔ 最佳答案
Nothing has objective value, something having value is a subjective opinion, and I guess that most people consider humans to have value.
From evolution we have evolved a will to live, and therefor it evolutionarily makes sense for someone, to at least, consider their own life to matter. Since essentially everyone feels that way, it makes sense that we would make a social contract which everyone matters, and no one will kill/attack/harm you as long as you return the same favor, which would be a fair deal since it ensures your own protection. And since staying in groups was good in our evolution, it makes since to value those you are with, as if they continue to live, they can continue to help you and your group.
Also, we have evolved empathy, so we can feel for others, so us valuing others could have something to do with that.
I accept that there is no objective, universal reason or scientific law that says that humans have value, but from a humans perspective, I think that it makes sense to hold such an opinion.
Even if a God did exist, which I don't believe, I don't see how that would make morality, or the value of humans into something objective. I don't see how God's opinions would be anything else than that, opinions.
Note: I'm not a biologist, so something I said about human evolution might be inaccurate, but I think that what I said is essentially correct.
Life has the value that we place on it.
We place relatively little value on the life of our food.
We place a great value on our own lives. Empathy and the Golden Rule leads to us placing value on the lives of other humans. Although this is fragile and can be removed easily - see the treatment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, the treatment of Jews by Nazi Germany, the current rise of white supremacy in the US and Europe.
But there is nothing to indicate that there is any external influence of how we value life and the lives of living things. Just us.
I suppose human life has no value to an accelerating expanding universe. It might not have any value to a being who lives outside of the universe either. How does that affect the value that we place on each other?
Also, have you established the premise that god is the source of morality? No.
Would the poor Jews have gone extinct from amoebic dysentery and e. coil poisoning if God hadn’t showed them how to properly dispose of fecal matter? No.......
Life has value because we value life. Values are the products of our minds, not objective entities.
"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
Question: "If human life evolved without any input from a higher being, then why does human life, or any life, have value?"
All creatures value life because they are trying to survive and thrive. Humans are no different in that respect, just that we have a more developed / evolved intellect to create a more complex value system than other animals.
The premise of your question doesn't quite make sense to me; if an intelligent creature made of physical atoms can’t create value, then why should a non-material God have any more success either? Why are God's pronouncements any more valuable than anyone else's? Why is God, or the Universe valuable? The problem is, you haven't defined 'value'; isn't value a feeling, a subjective sense which all sentient beings possess, but in a self-centered way. I expect the dinosaurs wanted to survive and carry on breeding, but we are glad that they died out because that meant life could change and cause us to evolve. If humans ever die out, that's a disaster for us, but most other species don't value us so much.
So you think the only way something has value is if it was created by a being - wow.
One good argument is as follows:
1) Christians believe the lives of non-Christians don't matter, and have no value.
2) The things Christians believe are consistently wrong.
3) Therefore, the lives of non-Christians matter, and have value.
Life has intrinsic value because it is life. There is no need to create an imaginary Sky Daddy to give it value.
God may have brought human biological life into existence through a natural process of His design, however humans are not merely biological beings. Humans also have a spiritual nature and an immortal soul, which could not have come into existence in any way other than by a direct act of God.
IT DID NO SUCH THING...Evolution is lies lies lies. WE HAVE VALUE CUZ GOD MADE US IN HIS IMAGE AND HE LOVES US SO MUCH HE DIED FOR US!!
We put value on life because life matters to us. There is no objective value to it. Value is our subjective viewpoint.
Because the threat of death on earth and the fear of it gives people a reason to value the life they have now, regardless of whether a God created it or not, I guess. People want to cling to life on earth for as long as possible so for them, their lives are far more important and of more value than the lives of any other living thing. It's the reason why they invent medicines, health and safety rules, etc. Has nothing to do with a god. Whether they're religious or non-religious, humans are figuring out ways to delay the inevitable for humans, even animals, for as long as possible.
Because, we're a social species, and we value each other and our own lives, and we rely upon each other, as members of the same tribe, band, nation or species.
You don't need some invisible skyfairy to value human life, you only need to live as a human among humans to understand that your life is, like or not, tied to the lives of those around you.
I can't believe you really mean what Ithink you mean.
We (meaning humans) value life in general because we ARE life. In particular, we value human life because we ARE human life. I can't see how whether or not you believe a “higher being” was involved in our evolution would make any difference.
It's most likely that any creature that did not value it's own species (or at least act as if it did) would have become extinct millions of years ago. If you can imagine, for example, rats actively trying to kill each other (and there being many other creatures trying to kill them) then they would soon cease to exist.
This “desire for survival” is instinctive in species - that's why they have survived. As humans we rationalise this instinct: we “value” ourselves as a species; we say it is “morally wrong” to kill humans. As our lives have become more comfortable and we have become more knowledgeable we value life in general because we are now aware of the relationships and dependencies between different species of living things.
Like I say though, whether or not there is any “higher being” makes no difference at all.
We wouldn't be here without input from a higher being, so your question is moot.
Life all life on the planet has value in the eyes of God and humans were created in a very special way and they would not exist without God. Humans are a wonderful creation and loved by God. When God made people it was an act of love to share existence. God gave people a wonderful life on planet earth and a place to learn so they can enjoy happy lives. If they have troubles in most cases it is because they have broken rules. Earth is a planet of learning and people have the wonderful opportunity to learn and make wiser choices by experiencing things in life. When they make mistakes that is how they learn.This is the original purpose for humanity.
If that were true, it wouldn’t. Not only would we be accidents, but we would be no more important than any other life form. At that rate, we may as well be gnats or cock roaches. This life would be unimportant and pointless.
That being said, evolutionists disagree with that—they think human life has value even though nothing other than that specific Biblical teaching would ever give us “accidents” cause to think so.
If human life evolved without any input from a higher being there would be no Soul, Spirit, intellect. or eternity thus no value.
It doesn't!
Not to God (John 17:9)!
Whoever believes it does, take your best shot because that's all you have (Hebrews 3:19)!
all life does have value though
Your question is malformed. Your premise is that religion is the source of enlightenment when history has proven that religion has spread ignorance, bigotry and encouraged judgmental practices. Historic examples of slaughter justified by religion are innumerable AND CONTINUE TO THIS DAY.
Ask instead how 21st century civilization evolved to value ALL human life IN SPITE OF RELIGION and ignorance.
I am so sorry you have to believe in an imaginary sky daddy that evolved from a minor deity of war from a Judaeo pantheon simply to believe that your life has value. Atheists believe your life has value and are saddened you waste it on religious dogma.
We add value by our emotional and intellectual interaction with them.
NB:
An example of this is art. People are prepared to pay £ms for some doordings on canvas. In some cases, more than a small African country has as GDP. And not a god involved anywhere.
It is also the case that some of those paintings were panted hundreds of years ago, some just a decade or two. they look very different; very different style, very different meanings, very different reasons for being created... yet we value them (without any god thing input)
Is there some sort of INHERENT or INTRINSIC value? No, we create their value by our relationship with them.
Evolutionism is a Satanic religious cult (Isaiah 14:13-14, KJV). Evolution never happened, and is totally impossible. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1, KJV). If you can't get history right, you can't get science right.
