I’m inclined to believe you, but his biography on Wikipedia describes a long and varied life, and in a few minutes of examination I did not find any clear examples of arguments about morality persuading anybody to stop doing evil. I’m sure it’s in there somewhere. Which event(s) in his life are you talking about?
Sorry, if that’s all you have, it’s not what I’m looking for. What evil did he stop doing because he converted to Christianity? The worst things I see in the biography there were teaching rhetoric and waiting patiently for his 11 year old fiancee to turn 13 so he could marry her. Those activities were both consistent with cultural norms of the time. Neither of seem to have the right flavor to make me to want to try arguing morality with someone who is pointing a gun at my head.
He also gave up sleeping with various mistresses, however, given current culture, I doubt you think that is evil.
Arguing morality with someone who is holding a gun to your head doesn’t sound like a very smart thing to do. The most I have done while being held up was provide the assailant a set of scriptures with a number to call if he wanted to discuss morality while not holding a gun. If they are holding a gun or otherwise threatening current violence to you then that is usually not the time to be discussing morality as they are most likely not acting rationally.
Discussing morality with someone that is suicidal can sometimes help. Still, one should call for professional assistance if it is available.
One problem with arguing rationality with someone who as a gun to your head is time: a rational argument for a substantial change tends to take a fair amount of time. You might be able to convince someone with quick “sound bites”, but I’m not sure I’d really call that a rational argument.
Yes, this is a common occurrence. St. Augustine is, for instance, a well known example of such an occurrence.
I’m inclined to believe you, but his biography on Wikipedia describes a long and varied life, and in a few minutes of examination I did not find any clear examples of arguments about morality persuading anybody to stop doing evil. I’m sure it’s in there somewhere. Which event(s) in his life are you talking about?
Here is where it talks about it in the Wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo#Christian_conversion
A full account is given in The Confessions of St. Augustine.
Sorry, if that’s all you have, it’s not what I’m looking for. What evil did he stop doing because he converted to Christianity? The worst things I see in the biography there were teaching rhetoric and waiting patiently for his 11 year old fiancee to turn 13 so he could marry her. Those activities were both consistent with cultural norms of the time. Neither of seem to have the right flavor to make me to want to try arguing morality with someone who is pointing a gun at my head.
He also gave up sleeping with various mistresses, however, given current culture, I doubt you think that is evil.
Arguing morality with someone who is holding a gun to your head doesn’t sound like a very smart thing to do. The most I have done while being held up was provide the assailant a set of scriptures with a number to call if he wanted to discuss morality while not holding a gun. If they are holding a gun or otherwise threatening current violence to you then that is usually not the time to be discussing morality as they are most likely not acting rationally.
Discussing morality with someone that is suicidal can sometimes help. Still, one should call for professional assistance if it is available.
One problem with arguing rationality with someone who as a gun to your head is time: a rational argument for a substantial change tends to take a fair amount of time. You might be able to convince someone with quick “sound bites”, but I’m not sure I’d really call that a rational argument.