In practice, no. For example, I am willing to bite the bullet on saying that torture is not always wrong—the case of the terrorist who has planted a nuclear bomb in a big city that will detonate in a few hours, unless we torture his small child in front of him. How much weight should I give to the possibility that, for example, torture is always wrong, even if it is the only way to prevent a much greater amount of suffering? I have no idea. I’m not clear how—in the absence of a divine being and who has commanded us not to do it—it could be wrong, in such circumstances. And I don’t give any serious credence to the existence of such a being.
In practice, no. For example, I am willing to bite the bullet on saying that torture is not always wrong—the case of the terrorist who has planted a nuclear bomb in a big city that will detonate in a few hours, unless we torture his small child in front of him. How much weight should I give to the possibility that, for example, torture is always wrong, even if it is the only way to prevent a much greater amount of suffering? I have no idea. I’m not clear how—in the absence of a divine being and who has commanded us not to do it—it could be wrong, in such circumstances. And I don’t give any serious credence to the existence of such a being.