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Genesis

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Megan Robinson

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My university requires this absurd World Literature class, Intellectual Heritage, where we basically relearn all the world lit we did in high school.

Anyway-

We were required to read Genesis and my prof and myself began to dispute the nature of morality. I asked if it were possible for Adam and Eve to be held accountable for eating the fruit because they had no knowledge of good and bad. He merely ended the exchange by saying that God's commands are moral imperatives (if such a thing exists). Of course the story itself presents a contradiction, but here are the two cases I think are present in the story:

1) Adam and eve have no concept of good and bad and therefore can have no values. They are moral putty, and anything anyone tells them to do, they will do because they have no means by which to weigh an action. God tells them not to do something, the serpent tells them to...they do whatever they heard last. The problem with this is that if they have no values then they cannot value life, which is the consequence God sets before them if they eat from the tree.

which leads me to

2) They have a value and hence already know good and bad. If they know that life is worth upholding they have a value and thus a principle and thus a moral.

They can already decide, they don't even need the tree.

This got me thinking...what is the nature of free will. Is it just the ability to seek out values? If this is true, then animals can do that. They are perpetually seeking out their life (like A and E in the garden). Obviously A and E were not governed by instinct because they CHOSE otherwise. I've quite confused myself on this subject, please be so kind as to correct me. :(

Edited by GreedyCapitalist
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This got me thinking...what is the nature of free will. Is it just the ability to seek out values? If this is true, then animals can do that. They are perpetually seeking out their life ...

Right, but animals do so by automatic regulatory processes, while man gets to use his volition to choose between alternatives. The animals' actions are on the sensory-perceptual level, whereas man's consciousness, in addition to sharing the perceptual level, functions volitionally and conceptually. The animal has no choice; it acts automatically in response to the external world, and its survival depends on whether its biologically determined nature is successful in dealing with what it encounters and perceives. Man, using his conceptual faculty and exercising choice volitionally, extends the ability of his nature to deal with reality. Man chooses his character and his values, volitionally.

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1) Adam and eve have no concept of good and bad and therefore can have no values.

If so, I think the being would lack a grasp of causality. Good and bad are evaluations of actions, in terms of a purpose. If you cannot grasp the fact that throwing water on a fire puts it out you ultimately cannot have rational values. Your actions would not lead you to gain or keep anything: what you gain or keep is, from that POV, uncontrollable, so neither good nor bad. You (one) might object "you can grasp cause-effect relations without wishing for a particular outcome", which is true. But this would show that the "therefore" relation above is inverted. If you have no values, then it follows that you have no good or bad. Good and bad are secondary to having a value, and understanding causality.

They are moral putty, and anything anyone tells them to do, they will do because they have no means by which to weigh an action. God tells them not to do something, the serpent tells them to...they do whatever they heard last.

Maybe, maybe not. Such beings might act randomly, i.e. would ignore what they were last told. If they do in fact do what they were last told, that would be a separate fact.

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oddly enough, as a matter of fiction I found myself sympathizing with Satan in Milton's paradise lost, and I found myself praising Eve for being Christianity's Promethius. She gave humanity reason and volition, sacrificing foolish comfort for the capacity to better her enviroment.

so when mysticists refer to things like stem-cell research as playing God, I tell them our duty is not to "play" God, it's to surpass him.

my bible teacher used to tell me I had it back asswards, but I always figured that was because he was a democrat :confused:

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Also, there is the downside to free will. A person can exercise his will in an attempt to refuse to think or choose at all. Animals have a keen sense of danger and tend to avoid it at all costs. There are people out there who are known as "thrill seekers" and actually go out of there way to pursue danger. An animal will usually fend for itself, or run away. Who knows, maybe Adam and Eve were "thrill seekers" themselves. :)

In the case of animals, they are usually taught and conditioned through the use of food. They seem to only know that they have done something right if they are rewarded by another. A human knows that he has done something right by use of his judgement. A rational man knows if he is right or wrong. He doesn't need someone to scratch him/ her benind the ears to know that they made the right choice or have succeeded at a task. He also doesn't need a hand out or a bribe for that matter.

You could take it further, and train an animal do something wrong and reward it for it's actions- with food or whatever- and it still thinks that it has done the right thing. It will not accept guilt at all- earned nor un-earned.

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As a religious studies student at school I always maintained the serpent was the 'good' guy. It showed Eve that she had the power to take her life into her own hands and be responsible for her own decisions. The serpent points out that the reason God doesn't want you to eat from the tree of knowledge is because he knows what it can do: with autonomy you can destroy yourself or you can surpass him. Effectively, it allows you the potential to become more powerful than God in creative ability and with that comes the possibility you could become an Enemy of God, at the very least a rival.

I think there are some striking parallels with 'The Matrix'... Eden is a perfect world and with its multitude of fruits you are given the illusion of limitless choice but the reality is man is being contained by a powerful God. The inherent caveat is that you can always choose to ask 'why?' and pursue knowledge - the one forbidden fruit/choice - and in doing so you break loose from the garden/matrix.

You are now becoming a God. What are you gonna do with it? Keep the system running?

I chose the red apple.

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As a religious studies student at school I always maintained the serpent was the 'good' guy.

When they told the story of Hannukah (the Hebrew rebellion against the Syrian Greeks) in Hebrew School, I was tempted to root for the Greeks.

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Why is that? I am unfamiliar with the story of Hannukah - could you fill me in on the two sides in this rebellion?

The Greeks occupied and controlled what is now Israel and the young Jews were so attracted to the Greek ways that they were abandoning Judaism right and left. Then the Greeks made a big mistake.

They forceably FORBID the Jews to practice their religion. This led to a rebellion in which the Jews, led by the Maccabee family, threw the Greeks out. The festival of Hannukah celebrates the military victory and the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem.

For historical details, told from a Jewish perspective, click here.

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As a slight digression, the Ancients really disliked the Judeo-Christian religion. I mean it was completely antithetic to the pagan religious attitude. First of all it took the metaphysical God very seriously, making him an exclusive deity, making him omnipotent, omniscient, etc etc, the one and onle true God. Secondly, this uber-God of theirs 'legislated morality', which pagan gods did not. They cared little for actions of mortals, and certainly did not proscribe rules of behavior. Hence the reason why many Ancients, Greco-Romans included, viewed the Jews, and then the Christians, with apprehension and distrust. Then add in the fact that this Judeo-Christian devotion resulted in a populace that felt no compunction to obey mortal laws, and you get a province of Judea which is highly volatile, nearly anarchic, with zealots preaching self-mutilating morality and drinking toilet water for martyrdom.

No wonder the Greeks tried to forcibly stop Judaist followers. But if the conversion was happening anyway, and this forced conversion caused a reactionary shift back, then yeah they made a Big mistake.

Anyway, back to Genesis and free will ;)

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How interesting. Ive often pondered why the Jews have so succesfully prospered in business and science (possibly the most succesful race on earth - they've come through hell several times, they produce a large quantity of good academics and businessmen etc etc) Yet they still have one of the most mystical and bizarre religious doctrines at the heart of their culture. Perhaps it is this enduring greek element that has persevered.

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I've often pondered why the Jews have so succesfully prospered in business and science  (possibly the most succesful race on earth - they've come through hell several times, they produce a large quantity of good academics and businessmen etc etc) Yet they still have one of the most mystical and bizarre religious doctrines at the heart of their culture. Perhaps it is this enduring greek element that has persevered.

That is exactly right.

See my posting about the influence of Aristotle in Jewish culture (click here).

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