You didn?t understand the "naturalist fallacy", did you, PS? There is no logical road that leads from an "is" to a "should be", i.e. factual statements vs. normative statements. The fact that people are "emotionally damaged" by certain acts is in no way a reason not to commit those acts, UNLESS you accept the MORAL principle, that people SHOULD NOT be damaged. Why not, would be a sociopaths (or Nietzsche?s ) answer.
Even more hogwash!
I totally disagree that one has to bring up a supernatural 'MORAL principle' for one to think that one SHOULD NOT do something!
Evolutionary instincts make most humans want to perserve the human race, they have a sense of empathy, it is perfectly logical for a human to see suffering etc and would not want that to be inflicted on others.
Its total bollocks that this Moral code is given to us by some superbeing in some old dubious texts!
And again... Evolutionary instincts, if they are evolutionary, should make me want to preserve my genes shouldn't they? And if they act this way, there is nothing I can do about it anyway - hence it wouldn't create any kind of moral imperative to do anything at all. I really recommend that you read up about the naturalistic fallacy. There is a wikipedia page all about it.
And as Dio has already pointed out, empathy is just another emotion. If you want to choose to act on it, fine, but don't pretend that there is some kind of universal rule to do so.
Here is a definition of empathy:
Main Entry:
em?pa?thy Listen to the pronunciation of empathy
Pronunciation:
\ˈem-pə-thē\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Greek empatheia, literally, passion, from empathēs emotional, from em- + pathos feelings, emotion ? more at pathos
Date:
1850
1: the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
2: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner ; also : the capacity for this
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathySo when you imagine yourself as a rapist, this is as much empathy as imagining yourself as a rape victim.
And again, statements about where morality doesn't come from, don't mean that it exists. If you believe that it exists - a superbeing seems about as good an explanation as any other at this stage!
Topic: Humanism, the way forward?