Draft: "A Nature-Based Morality"

Hiram I think that is excellent. Only two small notes:

Quote from Hiram

In it, Epicurus invents chemistry.

Probably some people will react against this and think more of Democritus. Since I think the rest of the essay is so good I wouldn't want to see it downrated due to accusation that you are exaggerating Epicurus' role in atomism.

Quote from Hiram

pleasure-aversion faculty,

You presumably had a reason not to use "pleasure / pain faculty," but just in case it wasn't a strong reason some might be questioning why you used aversion rather than pain, and that might distract from your main point.

Thanks for sharing your draft. I mostly agree with the content but recommend rework regading the following items:

"but do not cure others who are healthy" sounds weird because of what should healthy people be cured?

"the (false) boundary that exists between science and philosophy" is not that false outside EP. Recognition of this boundary allowed the Vatican to withdraw from meddling with science and from excommunicating or killing scientists and allowed science to proceed without refuting religions. Moreover, a number of modern cults deceive people with false claims to have overcome the boundary and to provide a path to understand science from the (of course non-sensical) beliefs of the respective cult. We need to be clear that EP's way to overcome the boundary is to start from science and not from religion but that overcoming the boundary is already beyond science because any suitable definition of truth is different for science and philosophy.

"Just as we see both symbiosis and competition in organic nature, we also see both cooperation and hostility in social relations." This analogy sounds far-fetched to me because what happens in both realms is conceptually very different.

Is "tithe" a spelling mistake?

You must have been just one second faster than me, Cassius, because I saw your comment only after posting mine.

I was faster and obviously my speed caused me to read negligently! Your comments are all good Martin, with the possible exception of the "tithe" question because I believe that is spelled correctly, right Hiram?

How would you phrase or spell that "giving of a tenth of income to the church" in German, Martin?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tithe

"Den Zehnten (des Einkommens) an die Kirche abliefern" or by meaning just "Den Zehnten bezahlen".

OK, so I withdraw my assumption of a spelling mistake because I just did not know this English word.

That's interesting -- Perhaps it is some kind of old English then. It's probably not so common among younger people in the USA anymore, but it's certainly a word with which those of us who are middle aged or older had drummed into us when we were younger.

I think i will set up a special forum for working on Drafts, and move this thread there, so it won't indicate that there is a finished essay here.