Judgment of others

Originally posted by twhitehead
So its down to bad luck?
Did he give me my capacity for judgmentalism? Was it unavoidable? Is it a byproduct of some other unavoidable factors?

He has placed you in a situation where you have the capacity to be judgemental or compassionate depending on which you prefer or believe in. It's up to you.

Originally posted by Palynka
I'm a bit confused as what you're addressing here. Isn't this a less general variant of what bbarr called the General Argument From Evil? That is, you are using a supposedly evil action and ask why would an omnipotent, morally perfect Creator allow such a possibility...

That is, you are using a supposedly evil action and ask why would an omnipotent, morally perfect Creator allow such a possibility...

I think I am doing neither of those things. I am not supposing, for the purposes of this discussion, that our having the capacity to judge others is "evil"; nor am I asking anything about a "morally perfect" creator. All I have assumed about the creator is (1) that he's all-powerful (omnipotent); (2) that he's all-knowing (omniscient); and (3) that it is his chief aim that his creation exude prosociality (for example, that they enter into loving, other-regarding relationships with him as well as each other).

What I intended to address was abduction regarding the origins of moral faculty. I find it highly implausible that such a creator (as above) provided for our moral faculty. For example, it is implausible that a creator who knows everything and can always successfully impose his will would provide for innate tendencies (stemming proximately from environmental and genetic factors beyond his creation's active control) that are counteractive toward the content of his own will. I was hoping maybe some theists here could give me objections like "in order for the prosocial displays to be genuine, god would need to X" (where X would, for instance, entail providing his creation with the ability and natural tendency to form judgments, often disparagingly so, about others), or something along those lines.

On the other hand it is very plausible that the elements I mentioned regarding our moral faculty developed out of natural selection working on ancestors such as ours -- arising as a mechanism (in concert with other mechanisms) for regulating helping behaviors, including mutualism and cooperation, direct reciprocity and, very importantly in terms of explanatory power, indirect reciprocity which also encompasses topics such as reputation and punishment.

Like I said, I was sort of thinking aloud. Probably not making myself very clear. Sorry.