Mary Hawking wrote:
>Some beliefs may need to be changed in the face of new evidence.
>
>Could someone tell me why my firmly held beliefs that "eating people is
>wrong" is true: it might be a delusion (delusions are personal) and
>therefore not - necessarily - held by the rest of you?
Interesting question on the relationship between belief and truth.
Delusions are not always personal, some are shared by millions,
rather like a form of mass hysteria.
Anyhow, does it need to be verifiably true for you to believe it?
Is it always wrong? (Example: Someone has died in an aircrash in the
frozen wastes or the middle of the ocean. There are survivors and
they will die unless they eat - from the flesh of those who've
already perished. Is this still wrong? - Obviously a profoundly
disagreeable thought, but it has happened.)
If you are seeking a reason why such an intuition may have become
prevalent one might suggest there are a number of consequences of
eating people that might be bad for the individual, the society or
the species. These could be to do with the transmission of diseases,
or the risk that even if cannibalism started as eating those who were
already dead it would frequently extend to killing and eating. This
also risks serious negative effects for both the individual and
society - even if there was no sense of moral wrongness.
Finally while humans are typically omnivores, we do not typically
feed on carrion, so eating those who are already dead would
transgress against our habits and intuitions at two points, and
similarly killing others to eat transgresses at two points (killing
and then cannibalism).
However finding reasons does not conflict with the possibility that
it just "is wrong". What do you think yourself?
Julian
|