kester99
kester99 t1_j0gww52 wrote
Reply to The good/ binary in morality is misguided and can be dangerous | Tommy Curry, Massimo Pigliucci, Joanna Kavenna by IAI_Admin
These observations would seem to be in agreement with the Genesis story in the Old Testament, wherein Adam and Eve were expelled from paradise for presuming to attempt to take the knowledge of good and evil to themselves, that knowledge being reserved to God, and beyond humanity's ability to comprehend...one of the first lessons from the Bible, and one much ignored.
kester99 t1_j0kv34z wrote
Reply to comment by j4_jjjj in The good/ binary in morality is misguided and can be dangerous | Tommy Curry, Massimo Pigliucci, Joanna Kavenna by IAI_Admin
We should keep in mind that this is a myth. You may take what message from it you like, I suppose. I'm sure there's more than one thread of meaning in there. I agree that it wasn't about 'knowledge' in general at all. It was about 'the knowledge of good and evil' and our inability to judge good and evil because of our limited mortal understanding. (This aligns with the later observations that 'we know not what we do', 'judge not, that ye be not judged', etc.) Thus the stricture enjoining them to not eat of that fruit, eh? If it was about obedience and control, any kind of tree would do for the story, I would think...the tree of really tasty cookies perhaps...'Don't touch' thunders God. 'Those are my cookies!' Instead, the tale specifically refers to the knowledge of good and evil. Every time we declare an enemy to be evil, as they declare us to be, we taste that fruit: war and conflict and the loss of paradise.