> > > An enforced responsibility is an oxymoron.
> >
> > Really? You have a responsibility to obey contracts. The government
> > enforces it.
>
>I don't think they do. Of course if I'm some one who is responsible I make
>sure I obey the contracts or else nobody will work with me anymore, but
>government enforcement? Isn't it more like that my contractpartner will
>enforce this contract upon me. I don't think the government as such
>enforces anything (with the exception of course if the government is my
>contract partner that is). In theory the society we live in (by way of
>government) makes the rules we play by and gives the players the means to
>enforce the rules if they deem this necesary. But if I don't obey my
>contract and my contractpartner doesn't want to enforce it using the
>availably means, then nothing will happen to me on account of the
>government (again unless my contract partner is the government that is
>;o)).
In a perfect world, we'd all have enough personal responsibility that we
would all live up to our responsibilities and would never have to have that
enforced by anyone else. But don't members of a society have a
responsibility to protect that society? Or at it's most basic level,
doesn't it make evolutionary sense to protect your genes (in the form of
your extended family) and your memes (in terms of your society at large) by
any means necessary, even if it means that you will have to sacrifice your
own life to ensure theirs? Once you've had kids, self-preservation is as
much (or more) about protecting your family (physical family and social
family) as (or than) about protecting yourself.
Could "enforced responsibility" like conscription be viewed as forcing us to
act on our own self-preservation instincts?
Just a thought.
Reggie Bautista
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_________________________________________________________________
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