What is it to be human?

@philokalia said
The fact that my arm has a different pattern of freckles on it than another person's arm does not mean that my arm is unique.

This is facetious. Consequently, as analogies go, it's a dud.

@philokalia said
When two people's moral systems line up 99%, why not just consider them [i]the same.

I have been talking about moral compasses and not moral systems. But I see what you did there. Presumably by "moral systems" you are talking about something external to the human individual. When it comes to personal moral compasses, I think people are very different and varied, and this can be seen in countless aspects of every single interaction every day for which "freckles" are a poor analogy. A "freckle" is not a decision or an action.

@philokalia said
Why does everything have to regress infinitely into atomization.

You should discuss this with someone who proposes this.

@kellyjay said
The debate is not about if we have different moral compasses, I don’t think anyone has suggesting that isn’t true. What separates you and I is what our true morals compasses are looking for, the true morals Difficult to call one better or worse without some true means to measure.

You are free to propose or endorse or promote whatever "true morals" you want or to associate as much as you want, or even exclusively, with people who have similar views on "true morals" to you.

Same goes for what you tout as your "true means to measure": it's your prerogative. Use your "measure". Think of it as "true".

Call it "true north" if you want to. Call upon other people to call it "true north" if you want to.

@philokalia said
I'm not unique; I'm not special; I'm not a snowflake. I am doing my best to be in line with the proper way of analyzing things from a Christian perspective.

But you are unique. You are wrong to say "I'm not unique".

@fmf said
You should discuss this with someone who proposes this.

(The implication was that this is what you were doing.)

@fmf said
Of course not. Have you not read any of my posts?

But by not subscribing to any specific system, and only by cherrypicking things that you like from other systems, you live in a world where you are the ultimate & only authority.

This is an important distinction from theists -- or even from rigorous atheists in some cases.

@fmf said
I have been talking about moral compasses and not moral systems. But I see what you did there. Presumably by "moral systems" you are talking about something external to the human individual. When it comes to personal moral compasses, I think people are very different and varied, and this can be seen in countless aspects of every single interaction every day for which "freckles" are a poor analogy. A "freckle" is not a decision or an action.

A freckle is inconsequential.

Tiny differences in how people view something are inconsequential in the face of how both of them condemn usury or otherwise actively subscribe to a pretty typical Sunni outlook on morality.

@fmf said
But you are unique. You are wrong to say "I'm not unique".

For a variety of reasons, I am a unique existence... But I am not a unique thinker.

And I say this as someone who actually advocates relatively unique things, not your run of the mill milquetoast atheo-humanism.

@philokalia said
Tiny differences in how people view something are inconsequential in the face of how both of them condemn usury or otherwise actively subscribe to a pretty typical Sunni outlook on morality.

I don't think the nuts and bolts of each person's moral compass are "tiny differences". The "Sunni outlook on morality", for all intents and purposes, is an external set of set of ideas and beliefs that one might read about but that each Sunni internalizes and processes and applies by way of the moral compass that defines him as an individual.

@philokalia said
For a variety of reasons, I am a unique existence... But I am not a unique thinker.

But you are a unique thinker. You are wrong to say "I am not a unique thinker".

@philokalia said
And I say this as someone who actually advocates relatively unique things, not your run of the mill milquetoast atheo-humanism.

"Milquetoast"?

@philokalia said
But by not subscribing to any specific system, and only by cherrypicking things that you like from other systems, you live in a world where you are the ultimate & only authority.

This seems to be an oblique reference to the fact that, with the guidance of my normal compass, I take personal responsibility for my moral decisions and actions, which I do. In the world in which I live, I take full responsibility for the morality of my actions in so far as they govern my behaviour towards other people and to the community.

@philokalia said
This is an important distinction from theists -- or even from rigorous atheists in some cases.

Our moral compasses are subjective. If one of the things you have absorbed or have been influenced by is a religious doctrine, that is simply part of your "nurture" (environment, experience).

I have also absorbed and have been influenced by religious doctrine and by cultures that are steeped in the influence of religious doctrine, but it's also simply part of my "nurture".

And your compass and my compass are both subjective prisms.

Just because your religious influences are underpinned by a belief in supernatural causality and my religious influences are not underpinned by a belief in supernatural causality, it doesn't make your compass "objective".

@philokalia said
(The implication was that this is what you were doing.)

Well then, it's as if you haven't read my posts. I haven't advocated anything on this thread. I am being descriptive. Not prescriptive.