[amusaasyday]

Basically, the question is whether there can be Ethics without recourse to some sort of Ontology. Another way of putting this question is "Can there be Ethics without God" as a specific case. Ethics without Rebirth? Impossible, says the traditional interpretation, and it offers kamma as a sort of electromagnetic force that operates according to moral principles on all beings throughout samsara, including gods and demons and mice.

It's ridiculous; one of the clearest explanations of why was given by Sam Harris at a TED talk, but that is merely an example of the fact that the argument "Ethics must have its foundation in some sort of metaphysical structure" is demonstrably weak, albeit highly popular.

With that, the rest of the article becomes moot; it is the premise of rebirth that stops my being able to follow the reasoning according to the Dhamma, and so it is that the rebirth assumption causes there to be an unnecessary problem.