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Pastimes : The Boxing Ring Revived -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (4950)	2/27/2003 7:10:13 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7720

And yes, it would make me unhappy if he said nuts, I have no obligations at all to you, you did those things as favors and that's the end of it. You've twisted the point. I'm not talking about cavalier ingratitude, I'm talking about the relative weight of gratitude and principles when they come into conflict. If you do favors for your neighbor, of course he is obligated to return them. He helps you out when your car battery is dead. You help him get home from the hospital after his operation. The problem arises when you expect him to return the favor based on principles he doesn't share. For example, you become obligated to your neighbor because he was instrumental in getting you a job where he works. Twenty years later you see him cooking the company books. He expects you to return the favor by covering up for him, lying to the investigating authorities. Or by promoting his nephew who is not qualified over several well qualified contenders. Or favoring his project in the budget process when his project is unpromising. Do you do any of those things simply to honor your debt? I wouldn't. Gratitude is a factor, but it only goes so far. I disapprove of the exchange of favors as the dominating factor in public relationships. Merit principles are too well ingrained in me. I could never be a politician. If people want to run their social lives on that basis, that's their business. If you listen to the foreigners who are questioning the US approach to Iraq, many of them are suggesting that we have abandoned our principles, the principles that we had when we liberated France. Whether that's an accurate assessment or not, I can't argue with those who believe that gratitude does not necessarily trump principles.