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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (61212)	10/5/2002 7:45:01 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

Of course if you have an indecent and unreasonable person it might not matter much what ethical theories they start with. Of course. Let me tell you what I like about this scheme, FWIW, on the off chance that you might be interested. Having practiced it for a long time , now, I have found it works really well, for me, at least. I'm still coddling my cold, which hasn't gotten any worse, at least. The first is that it's simple, clean, and honest. It cuts to the chase, is efficient. It's natural. I like to keep things as straightforward as possible. Makes life easier in so many ways and gives you time to spend on other pursuits. You need to understand yourself and your environment to know what is in your enlightened self interest, which principles are important to support and which don't matter. Once you've got that down, most choices are pretty easy. There are still difficult moral dilemmas to be sure, but they are fewer and farther between, which gives you more energy to deal with them. The second is that it produces decisions that are easy to live with. One reason for this is that there's not a lot of second guessing or back seat driving. No one is in a better position to assess what's best for you than you are. You decide and move on. Another is that you don't have to go to Abilene, ever. Trips to Abilene are such a waste. (Abilene Paradox) Life is better if you can obviate recriminations and regrets and stupid decisions. The third is that it facilitates being a reasonable and decent person. If you are kind or generous, it's because you want to be, not because the other person expects it or is entitled to it or deserves it. This spares you the anger that comes from feeling betrayed or disappointed when you do something for someone and they turn out to be ungrateful or undeserving. You don't have to fret about any injustices you might experience from your choices because they don't matter. It's easier to be reasonable and decent if you don't bother yourself with balance sheets and the inherent unfairness of life, if you feel no need to meddle or gossip or weigh other people's worthiness or mete out blame. You do what you do for you. If others benefit disproportionately to their contribution, it's no skin off your nose. The last is that it integrates nicely with other systems in American culture. It is like capitalism and democracy where you have individuals in the society making individual choices in their best interest, the sum of which supposedly is in the best interest of society. Not that either democracy or capitalism always works out that way, but both are viable and efficient means of getting to a group determination that works for the society most of the time. Likewise, the morals of a society can be derived from the sum of all the individual choices that are made. What could be more American? Fully integrated market, political, and ethical systems, all based on individual choice. Can't not like that. As you can see, I am sold on this, for me at least. If the broader society operates Neo's way, that's not really an obstacle because the two are not incompatible. As long as I can operate in a way that seems more efficient and healthier to me, it doesn't matter what drummer others hear.