Some time ago I was invited to give a talk at a college of theology and humanities. the topic of which resulted in my paper “Could God create Darwinian Accidents?” in Zygon, a leading theology and science academic journal. I gave it my secular best, having told the audience that I was an atheist and that I was using “God” here as a stress test of deterministic views. The answer I gave was neo-Leibnizian, for those who care.
Then the floor was open to questions. I expected some talk of whether or not contingency required randomness, but my first question was, “If you don’t believe in God, why don’t you rape and kill? Why act morally?” It took me a moment to reorient from metaphysics to metaethics, but I replied, “Because I’m an African Great Ape, and that is what apes do; they set and follow social norms”, as we were talking about evolution anyway…
But this is not a simple matter, and that is not the final answer.
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