Subject:
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Re: Essay on Emerson vs. Thoreau; civil disobedience
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 1 Feb 2001 02:18:48 GMT
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Viewed:
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638 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, James Brown writes:
> I guess what I'm stumbling over is trying to figure out why you think/feel
think. :-)
> that morality has significance beyond a personal level. What is the
> justification/point/meaning of you judging me (or my morals)? Whether it's
> a personal standard or an as-yet-unspecified universal standard, how can
> judging someone morally contribute to anything beyond personal opinion?
Good question.
I freely admit I may be digging myself a hole here. And judging morality of
individuals, in general, isn't what I want to do. Especially as it relates
to victimless crimes, etc.
Recall that I've said in the past that it is actions that should be judged
rather than intent. Morals are all about the intent/motivation and not much
about the action, except as a consequence. So why judge them at all?
Where I want to judge morals is not in vacuo, but where it has bearing on
*my* actions. (so moral viewpoints that aren't like to produce outcomes that
interfere with my rights, which includes all sorts of fun stuff about who
can put/ingest/say what where as being of no interest to me as it's not
likely to infringe)
Some examples:
Suppose you come to my door and say you are collecting for a home for
wayward boys. I feel it perfectly within my rights to inquire into what sort
of morals you hold yourself, and what morals you intend to instill, as I
don't want to give charity to a pederast society that intends to exploit
these boys. Nor do I want to give charity to the next Guild of Thieves if
the morals you intend to instill don't include respect for property rights.
Suppose you ask me to give money to D.A.R.E... I feel it perfectly within my
rights to judge this pernicious government program as immoral and unworthy
of my support, as I'd rather not see my kids turned into spies on their
parents and government informants.
Suppose you write an op ed piece railing against the MS "monopoly". I feel
it perfectly within my rights to judge your morals as seriously flawed, and
your grip on reality as somewhat suspect.
Suppose you appear in my house in the dead of night. and start riffling
through my stereo cabinet. I feel it perfectly within my rights to get out
my speed loader and have a conversation with you about your morals. If I
don't like the answer, you had better be ready to face the consequences of
that discussion, as I tend not to miss. There is a great deal of "meaning"
in my judgement of your morals in that case.
Suppose you come on my TV and say that we as a country need to go to war
with Switzerland because they have too much money. I feel it perfectly
within my rights to judge your morals, and to judge the morals of the Swiss
society as well, to decide if I want to support the war (1) or not.
Suppose you appear in court as the defendant in a (non violent) drug trial.
If I'm on the jury I am going to lead a discusson on the morality of
legislating victimless crime and try to convince my peers that you need to
be found innocent and the drug law nullified with our verdict.
Every one of these is personal opinion but it's an opinion that has effect
on others. I'm ready to accept the consequences for my moral judgements.
Finally, I'd prefer to live under a government that has embraced an
objective standard of right and wrong, that recognises individual liberty
and that is sharply limited in power. When I was little, I thought I did.
To reiterate...
Some governments, some societies, and some people are *better* than others.
Part of why is the morals they embrace. Are my morals "better" than Slobodan
Milosevic or Saddam Hussein? I think so. But then I make value judgements
about others. The moral relativist seems to have rejected that.
Therefore I judge their morals inferior to mine as well.(2)
Hope that helps. Now where did I leave that shovel?
++Lar
1 - this thread is about supporting wars and the consequences of not doing
so, in part. "...remember Alice's Restaurant???" (3)
2 - "if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice" (3)
3 - a musical reference
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