[lbo-talk] On the Threat from Religion

[Miles Jackson]

Philp Pilkington wrote:
> "and even if interpreted
> that way is STILL not an ethical principle but a practice dictated by
> the development of a communist society, a social not an ethical
> principle, and actually a practice rather than a principle."
> 
> That seems like linguistic sophistry to me. Social/ethical;
> practice/principle, these are plays on words. Ethics is always related to
> the rest of society, its always dialectically grounded in the social link,
> even when it appears otherwise. As for practice and principle it seems the
> same thing, principles never meant anything unless they were practiced...

How about this: ethics is the social practice of justifying existing 
patterns of behavior in a society.  (Ethical principles do not "drive" 
individual behavior and social relations; just the opposite.)

Miles