re: #345 buzzsawmonkey

Raises the question, not “begs.” “Begs the question” is the name of a logical fallacy which you really don’t want to get into in a discussion like this.

The reason given Biblically is that G-d forbade them; end of story. If you don’t believe in G-d, then I guess you’re on your own.

I don’t really care what the “reason” was, myself; my point is merely that some ancient societies did in fact engage in all manner of sexual couplings which are Biblically forbidden, and that these societies flourished for hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of years.

No, I did mean “begs,” as my point was that you were assuming your conclusion in your premise.

Right. If your answer to the question is “because G-d says so,” the discussion has nowhere to go. You were purporting to contradict my point that incest was prohibited (in almost every civilization on earth) because people long ago realized that children born of such unions sooner or later became a burden on and ultimately a dead end in the community. Saying that the reason they were forbidden was because otherwise people would engage in them assumes that a problem results from such engagement.