Subject:
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Motive vs Action (was Re: Blue Hopper Car Mania...)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 18 Oct 1999 17:21:18 GMT
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Viewed:
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1054 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Simon Robinson writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
> > This must be why I prefer the market to work things out. I don't think
> > motives matter at all. It is demonstrated to be 'good' because the
> > market rewards that behavior.
>
> Ha ha - I thought I'd get challenged on that one. I think when assessing
> the morality of an action, it's crucially important in principle to take
> motives into account.
>
> For example:
> Fred is driving back from work. It's been a hard day, which is why he's
> tired. He makes the mistake of driving a bit faster than he ought to, given
> his weariness, which is why he runs over Sam (who was just crossing the
> road) and kills her.
>
> Dave is driving back from work. He spots Paul up ahead, crossing the road,
> and thinks 'that's the git who used to pull faces at me in school'.
> So instead of slowing down to let Paul cross, he deliberately accelerates,
> and runs Paul over and kills him.
>
> Both actions have exactly the same consequences. In both cases the driver
> was in the wrong - but is anyone seriously going to argue that Fred's
> 'wrongness' is as bad as Dave's?
Yes.
Neither you nor I are capable of judging motive. We don't know why Fred ran
over Sam, or why Dave ran over Paul. The only people who know that are Fred
and Dave, respectively. All that we can do is judge the action. Actions are
observable, and judgable, intent is not.
James
http://www.shades-of-night.com/lego/
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Message has 5 Replies:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Blue Hopper Car Mania...
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| (...) I'm not so sure of that. Once you've got the sets that you're (hypothetically) planning on holding for a year, there's nothing anyone who wants to buy the sets earlier than that can do. This redistribution may have been instigated by a private (...) (25 years ago, 18-Oct-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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