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Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GPS Info who wrote (42299)	10/1/2013 8:40:16 PM
From: average joe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 69300

"The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.” “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. “ “Ennui has made more gamblers than avarice, more drunkards than thirst, and perhaps as many suicides as despair. “ “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. “ “It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell. “ “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. “ “To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent. “ “Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others." BOODA

To: GPS Info who wrote (42299)	10/1/2013 10:00:57 PM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

Maybe add GPS location.

To: GPS Info who wrote (42299)	10/1/2013 10:58:20 PM
From: Solon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 69300

All those moral principles seem to involve yourself--rather than others? Basically, you listed a bunch of positive character traits that many in our culture are familiar with and often in agreement with.Some of them are terrible (IMO) , such as these two: One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated. These are senseless (it seems to me), as they allow people to mentally justify how they treat others without rationally justifying the treatment. But getting back to the point. Don't you have any principles as to how others ought to treat one another and yourself (and I don't mean silliness such as a gay wooing a straight man and perhaps embarrassing him or worse because that is the way he likes to be treated by other men). Rather, don't you have any principles as to how others ought to act other than just doing what feels good to them? I mean, if society took your advice we would have people exposing themselves to other adults as well as children. There would be no consistent standards. Some movie makers would show porn scenes in their unrestricted movies. People would keep their neighbours awake all night with loud music because they like it and they wouldn't mind a bit if their neighbours played the same music. Drug dealers could deal dope in the open. People who liked rough sex (perhaps because of sexual abuse or for no reason at all) could potentially (and probably would) cause serious harm. Those who believed in sexual freedom and "open" relationships would cheat on their mate and know that they were treating their partner in accordance with their moral principle. ETC. What sort of a moral system allows an individual to decide what is good for others just on the basis of what that individual "likes"? This is a recipe for chaos and bedlam. Truthfully, it sounds like unrestrained egoism where one follows some haphazard and unstable system of psychological and moral anarchy. I suppose it could work under some conditions. If all people were truly healthy and able to empathise. If all people had the same values (rather than all groups and all individuals having different values--Republicans/Democrats, Christians/Jews, etc.). Yes, I guess if people shared common values, the ethic of reciprocity would work. But where do we find this in societies? Even the United States is divided into...yes...States! But wait, wasn't there somebody who gave us the means of sharing the same values as they relate to morals? Didn't somebody suggest that objective reasoning was the same for all people and that moral "truths" could thus be rationalised into objective premises as objective as the boiling point of water or the descent rate of a parachute of a certain size in certain conditions? Yes, I am sure there was some philosopher. Just can't remember her name, just now...