@sonshipsaid On what basis did the nations have any right to conduct the Nuremberg trials against the former Nazis?
The basis was international law which in turn was based on what was arguably the moral consensus of the people of the nations that beat the Nazis in WW2.
@fmfsaid Mostly, because they see some advantage for themselves in acting in a way that is perceived by those around them as morally unsound ~ and perhaps even they themselves think so, and yet they seek that advantage anyway.
Have you ever considered that your mode of behavior might be morally unsound?
@kevin-elevensaid Have you ever considered that your mode of behavior might be morally unsound?
Of course. If you'd read any of the many, many long conversations on this forum about the origin and application of moral compasses, you would not ask such a gauche question.
@sonshipsaid Why must it be that properly informing conscience has no power often?
Despite having a "properly informing" conscience, a person might - rarely, sometimes, often - see some advantage for themselves in acting in a morally unsound way. For this reason, the guidance that the moral compass provides might sometimes be ignored. If someone does this seemingly it all the time, it might be a good definition of 'sociopathic behaviour'.
@sonshipsaid I thought you were about to introduce me to somebody ELSE.
You need to talk to a zoologist or an animal psychologist about these things.
No, I think YOU should go and find an animal psychologist to talk to ~ I do not have to introduce you to one ~ if you want to get answers about this:
sonship: I knew of dog that stole a guy's lunch and eat it up on the job. That dog wasn't bothered in the least by its conscience. It may have looked scared in the face of an angry worker whose lunch it ate. But no moral compass told the dog it was wrong to steal the man's lunch.
@sonshipsaid Ghost, FMF, and avalanchethecat are three atheists on the Forum.I invite them here to explain why all men and women too often CANNOT carry out the good that they know to do or CANNOT stop the evil that they know they should not do.
People have free will about how they behave. And people have free will about what they want to achieve for themselves or for those they love.
Nature and nurture, the two bases of each person's moral compass, are blended in a unique combination for each and every individual.
This individuality will explain the variation and inconsistency in terms of "why all men and women too often cannot carry out the good that they know to they should do".