[Buddha-l] Fighting creationism

[SJZiobro at cs.com]

Richard Hayes <rhayes at unm.edu> wrote:

>On Sunday 01 April 2007 17:32, SJZiobro at cs.com wrote:
>
>> Sure, you can do whatever you want.  I don't agree that it is God's fault
>> that a virus originating in non-human animals jumped over to our species. 
>> There is a reason for this, and it is this which you might consider as your
>> culprit.
>
>I suspect that what you meant to say is that there is an explanation for the 
>AIDS virus infecting human beings. Saying that there is a reason implies that 
>some purpose was held in someone's mind and that the spreading of the virus 
>is the deliberate fulfillment of that purpose. It is difficult to imagine 
>anyone holding that view.  

>From the pespective of normative intentionality or volition I agree with you here, Richard.  There is always some aspect of the good under which  the person intends and wills something first conceived in the mind.  There are, however, departures from the norm, aberrations, and here we find psychopaths, sociopaths, etc. who intend and will evil and to the extent that they can, execute what was first conceived in their minds.  But even here there is some aspect of the good under which they do this.

Stan