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Are "evil gods" necessary? [THREAD NECRO]
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8021967" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I'm not sure this thread is the right place for a debate about moral theology.</p><p></p><p>That said, given that a generally-accepted moral teaching is "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you" I think it's fair to say that "putting yourself before others" is morally doubtful according to a lot of mainstream outlets. The degree of morally permissible self-regard is a contested matter. It's widely but universally thought that the answer is <em>some</em>, and that only a saint acts with literally no self-regard.</p><p></p><p>"Malice" seems, fairly clearly, to be a case of <em>not</em> doing unto others as one would have them do to oneself. The moral framing we should give to non-malicioius harm is a different matter, but that's where notions of <em>fall</em> and <em>providence</em> might come into play.</p><p></p><p>I don't see that any of this gets in the way of having a D&D campaign in which all divinity is good. It requires a little bit of reconceptualisatio of evil high priests and the like: rather than conjuring up necrotic forces (which sounds like evil as a distinct source of power) they might have to be framed as literal manifestations of corruption (so eg their curses and foul magic literally drain away the goodness and life in things, a metaphysical metaphor for falling away from truth). But that doesn't seem too hard.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8021967, member: 42582"] I'm not sure this thread is the right place for a debate about moral theology. That said, given that a generally-accepted moral teaching is "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you" I think it's fair to say that "putting yourself before others" is morally doubtful according to a lot of mainstream outlets. The degree of morally permissible self-regard is a contested matter. It's widely but universally thought that the answer is [I]some[/I], and that only a saint acts with literally no self-regard. "Malice" seems, fairly clearly, to be a case of [I]not[/I] doing unto others as one would have them do to oneself. The moral framing we should give to non-malicioius harm is a different matter, but that's where notions of [I]fall[/I] and [I]providence[/I] might come into play. I don't see that any of this gets in the way of having a D&D campaign in which all divinity is good. It requires a little bit of reconceptualisatio of evil high priests and the like: rather than conjuring up necrotic forces (which sounds like evil as a distinct source of power) they might have to be framed as literal manifestations of corruption (so eg their curses and foul magic literally drain away the goodness and life in things, a metaphysical metaphor for falling away from truth). But that doesn't seem too hard. [/QUOTE]
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Are "evil gods" necessary? [THREAD NECRO]
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