PoodleLovinPessimist
November 27, 2005, 08:04 AM
This quotation, often erronously attributed to Dostoevsky (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/features/2000/cortesi1.htm), is, nevertheless "an accurate capsule description of the belief espoused by Ivan Karamazov in the early chapters of The Brothers Karamazov."
And this statement bears close examination, because it appears to be true.
Well, almost true. It is not possible to be actually contradictory, and it is impossible to violate true physical law. We will have to understand the implicit qualifier that everything physically possible is permitted.
And this is simply true. Without god, we can do as we please: We can work on Sunday, or watch football instead of going to church. We can eat pork. We can create images of whatever we please. We can build buildings as high as physical law allows. A guy can fuck another guy in the ass. I can live in a commune with nine wives. Everything is permissible.
Of course everything is permissible: If someone wants to kill other people, he can; no god is going to punish him. If he wants to molest children, he can. If it is his will to commit an atrocity (an action most people would find utterly atrocious and horrific) he can. It is very important to note that this is observably true: People do in fact murder, they do in fact molest children, they do in fact commit atrocity.
Of course everything is permissible: If someone wants to hunt down people who kill others, who molest children, who commit atrocities, and kill them or imprison them, he can do that too.
Of course everything is permissible: If someone wants to enslave his will to that of another, living or dead, and call that self-enslavement loyalty or dedication to God, he can do that as well.
The message, "If God does not exist, then everything is permitted," is a message not of comfort, but of freedom: We are free to do as we please. It is also a message of responsibility: If we are to have what we want, it is we ourselves who must make it happen. If we want to have a society free of murder, we cannot count on a god to make it so; we must ourselves choose to hunt down murderers and imprison them. We cannot rely the justice of a god, we must create our own justice. We cannot count on either the fear or support of a god, we must count on the fear and support of each other. And we cannot count on a god to tell us what is right or wrong. We have to create right and wrong ourselves.
Yes, if a god does not exist, then everything is "permitted". But only that which each person permits himself, and what we permit each other.
And this statement bears close examination, because it appears to be true.
Well, almost true. It is not possible to be actually contradictory, and it is impossible to violate true physical law. We will have to understand the implicit qualifier that everything physically possible is permitted.
And this is simply true. Without god, we can do as we please: We can work on Sunday, or watch football instead of going to church. We can eat pork. We can create images of whatever we please. We can build buildings as high as physical law allows. A guy can fuck another guy in the ass. I can live in a commune with nine wives. Everything is permissible.
Of course everything is permissible: If someone wants to kill other people, he can; no god is going to punish him. If he wants to molest children, he can. If it is his will to commit an atrocity (an action most people would find utterly atrocious and horrific) he can. It is very important to note that this is observably true: People do in fact murder, they do in fact molest children, they do in fact commit atrocity.
Of course everything is permissible: If someone wants to hunt down people who kill others, who molest children, who commit atrocities, and kill them or imprison them, he can do that too.
Of course everything is permissible: If someone wants to enslave his will to that of another, living or dead, and call that self-enslavement loyalty or dedication to God, he can do that as well.
The message, "If God does not exist, then everything is permitted," is a message not of comfort, but of freedom: We are free to do as we please. It is also a message of responsibility: If we are to have what we want, it is we ourselves who must make it happen. If we want to have a society free of murder, we cannot count on a god to make it so; we must ourselves choose to hunt down murderers and imprison them. We cannot rely the justice of a god, we must create our own justice. We cannot count on either the fear or support of a god, we must count on the fear and support of each other. And we cannot count on a god to tell us what is right or wrong. We have to create right and wrong ourselves.
Yes, if a god does not exist, then everything is "permitted". But only that which each person permits himself, and what we permit each other.