New answers tagged ethics
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Is there such a thing as sexual morality?
The problem is that sexual activity is unlike any other activity in that it can initiate a new life. As a consequence, the logic involving it includes many considerations that no other arena of life ...
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Is there such a thing as sexual morality?
"there is no morality special to sex"
By the same reasoning there would be no morality special to murder, you just have to get busy on the particulars (war? self defence? etc). That is, it'...
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Does a suicide understand what he is doing?
A useful exercise might be to consider different typical types of suicides:
Terminally ill people in pain
People with depression or PTSD
People who just lost most of their wealth
People facing trial, ...
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Is it logical to seek revenge?
People believe revenge or "violence" to be illogical, impractical and immoral
Yes, you find people who subscribe to any and all beliefs one could imagine. You would have to define what you ...
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Does a suicide understand what he is doing?
We, each of us individually, feel a sense of self worth, a sense that something of great value will be lost if we cease to be.
Some of us do. Some of us have a more moderate sense of value, and many ...
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Brain states, morality and free will: What can we discern from the case of the schoolteacher who became a pedophile post-brain tumor?
My two cents.
There is no convincing evidence that brain damage results in (complete) lack of free will.
Being able to make choices does not seem to be affected by brain damage. Rather what seems to ...
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Brain states, morality and free will: What can we discern from the case of the schoolteacher who became a pedophile post-brain tumor?
Do we currently possess enough data to know if we are ever justified in condemning people as moral agents, as opposed to merely identifying and trying to prevent undesirable behaviours over which - ...
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What should be the primary focus of the criminal justice system?
Here's how I would prioritize the four:
Deterrence: I would like the criminal act to become extinct.
Incapacitation: Until the criminal can be fixed, keep them away from society.
Rehabilitation: No ...
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Accepted
Does a suicide understand what he is doing?
Is a suicide someone who simply lacks the sense that he is an intrinsically valuable part of the universe, or is it instead an act of deliberate vandalism? Does he understand that he is destroying ...
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Is there any record that Darwin's book, "The Origin of Species ... or the Preservation of Favored Races " has had an effect on racial justice?
The answer to this question seems to be an emphatic yes! Coming across the writings of Erich Fromm, the noted psychologist, confirms this, and we quote:
The 'religion' of Social Darwinism belongs to ...
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Is it logical to seek revenge?
Revenge is logical as a way to prevent the other from doing more harm. Somebody killed someone you love? You kill him in revenge so he won't kill more people you love. Perfectly logical. It isn't ...
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Brain states, morality and free will: What can we discern from the case of the schoolteacher who became a pedophile post-brain tumor?
We have to make a distinction between what we are and what we do. We cannot choose what we are, but we can and we must choose what we do.
What we are does not determine what we do. What we are ...
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Brain states, morality and free will: What can we discern from the case of the schoolteacher who became a pedophile post-brain tumor?
Yet this leads to what is for some no doubt an uncomfortable conclusion; that our personalities, including our preferences/desires, are ultimately the result of neurological processes which are beyond ...
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Why is nepotism considered immoral?
Because it is perceived as something unfair. If you have an ideal candidate for a job and you decide to give it to another, who is a relative of yours, less prepared for the position. In general terms,...
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Is it logical to seek revenge?
In the iterated prisoner's dilemma there's a famous algorithm called Tit-for-tat (which curiously has the same meaning of the proverbial "an eye for an eye" you quoted), written in FORTRAN ...
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Is it logical to seek revenge?
"Seeking revenge" is alogical, not illogical.
You can easily construct a logical reason to seek revenge. Roughly:
I want to destroy this society; seeking revenge sparks an escalating
cycle ...
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Is it logical to seek revenge?
Logic simply does not deal with things like revenge, love and hope. Those are emotions. Psychology, ethics and morals deal with those topics, not logic. It makes sense to ask if it is moral / ethical ...
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Accepted
Justice and moral relativism?
Rawls (and though I do not fault him for this, I do question the point of it in the end) says that his theory counts as pro-autonomy and pro-objectivity (AToJ, sec. 78). The objectivity-friendly side ...
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What should be the primary focus of the criminal justice system?
The crucial problem with asking for criteria, paradigms and their priority in an ideal criminal justice system is that the problems with a criminal justice system might stretch beyond the boundaries ...
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Are there moral theories in which necessity and duress do not excuse or justify an immoral action?
They don't excuse or justify the action they excuse or justify the actor. That's a crucial difference. As far as I know some jurisdiction have edge cases where you are charged with a crime and ...
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What should be the primary focus of the criminal justice system?
Incapacitation within reason, rehabilitation and deterrence are all rational responses to offences. But it is clear that none of the usual punishments is particularly effective in achieving their ...
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What are the arguments against moral subjectivism?
Your question contains at least two errors of logic. The first is that you seem to be equating moral subjectivism with the idea that anything goes. Just because something is not innately bad doesn't ...
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Is it logical to seek revenge?
It isn't logical to seek revenge. It doesn't do any good. I can't believe that we have a specific instinct in regard to moral behaviour, which is not instinctive.
The best explanation I can think of ...
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Is it logical to seek revenge?
In the book Systems of Survival Jane Jacobs puts forward the thesis that humans have two fundamental systems of ethics. She calls them syndromes. Wiki Link
The first, and probably the older, she calls ...
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Is it logical to seek revenge?
You use the word 'logical' in the sense of rational. Thus, you are looking for rationales for the use of revenge. Philosophical analysis by Hobbes who characterized this world as violent in his ...
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Is it logical to seek revenge?
" "He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me." Those
who harbor such thoughts do not still their hatred.
"He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed ...
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What is the value of maintaining an interest in catastrophe?
Many do not have such an interest. 42% of Americans actively avoid the news at least some of the time. The quip goes 'no news is good news', and the legend says 'May you live in interesting times' was ...
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Is it logical to seek revenge?
The possibility of revenge prevents attacks against you because they are risky. Always going for revenge makes life more dangerous for you because an attacker knows they must make it impossible for ...
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Is it logical to seek revenge?
It is a basic human impulse. In my opinion, it is a survival trait (left over as a maladaptive trait today) from the time when humans first began clumping into tribes for protection. In that sense it ...
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According to Dustin Locke, when can we be "practically certain"?
Conceptually, at least, a degree of certainty can be expressed on a continuous scale from zero to one. There is no fixed point on that line that can be said to divide practical certainty from lesser ...
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What is the value of maintaining an interest in catastrophe?
Watching the news regarding various catastrophes, as such and by itself, has no particular value. The anxiety it may produce is quite likely to have negative effects. So, without further actions, I ...
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Is there any record that Darwin's book, "The Origin of Species ... or the Preservation of Favored Races " has had an effect on racial justice?
Is there any historical record that Darwin's book, The Origin of Species by Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle of Life has instigated actions by men, societies, or ...
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Accepted
According to Dustin Locke, when can we be "practically certain"?
The answer of Locke is given in the abstract of the paper. We are practically certain if and only if
the actual epistemic probability that p differs from epistemic certainty that p only in ways that ...
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What are the arguments for pornography?
Not remotely versed in arguments about this topic, however, there is an emerging philosophy-of called the philosophy of sexuality. There are books on the topic like this one Philosophy of Sexuality (...
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What are the arguments for pornography?
You might enjoy these answers
How do ethicists tackle the question "Is it immoral to have sex in public places?" Is it possible to use rational and empirical ideas to answer?
Violence vs ...
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What justifies "virtue ethics" or other forms of ethics emphasizing "virtues"?
Justification depends on Source
Ethics of any ilk is justified or dismissed depending upon its origin or source. Ethics of Virtue, to be valid for all peoples must have its origination from a ...
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Accepted
Given I have no moral knowledge, can I still know what the best course of action is?
One might try out quasi-realism in this connection, say by speaking of "quasi-knowledge," then, too. QK could be introduced as "something that would be knowledge proper/in full, if its ...
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What justifies "virtue ethics" or other forms of ethics emphasizing "virtues"?
The justification of ethics is general is based on recognizing we have a moral sense, then trying to fit the best model we can to the data we get from that moral sense.
Virtue ethics -- where we try ...
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What justifies "virtue ethics" or other forms of ethics emphasizing "virtues"?
The justification of virtue ethics can proceed from the perspective to its applications, with counterintuitive recommendations counting as evidence against the theory; on the other hand, if an agent ...
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Why do people dislike being deceived?
Because knowledge implies ability to predict.
For example, knowing a path implies the ability to foresee what will be the direction in any point. Knowing your home implies you can predict the number ...
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Why do people dislike being deceived?
Agency, control and safety.
When people are deceived, they are being robbed of agency; the ability to - as much as possible - make decisions and act appropriately in response to the information they ...
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Accepted
Epistemic failure and blaming others
The answer to the first part of your question is so clearly 'yes' that I wonder whether you had some meaning of 'blame' in mind other than its literal meaning of allocating responsibility for an ...
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Epistemic failure and blaming others
Very short answer. Different between man and animal/human, that man can act by will - art, and animals action base on reactions - because their nervous system works on reflexes formed from the outside,...
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