Greetings Ham,
Well, there is the obvious problem, the sadomasochist. Both the Golden Rule and Kant's Categorical Imperative seem to make their point-of-view permissible. How would you define being rational? Marsha At 02:44 PM 9/28/2007, you wrote: >Hi Ron, SA, David, Marsha -- > > >Whenever we try to apply morality to value, we run into problems. This is >because morality (normative ethics) is based on the 'summum bonum' principle >of virtue as conceived by the early Greeks. It is an attempt to quantify >value in order to achieve what utilitarians like Jeremy Bentham called "the >greatest good for the greatest number of people." > >Here is what Wikipedia says about utilitarian morality: > >"Since utilitarians judge all actions by their ability to maximize good >consequences, any harm to one individual can often be justified by a greater >gain to other individuals. This is true even if the loss for the one >individual is large and the gain for the others is marginal, as long as >enough individuals receive the small benefit. Thus, utilitarians deny that >individuals have inviolable moral rights. As explained above, utilitarians >may support legal rights or rights as rules of thumb, but they are not >considered inherent to morality. This seems problematic to many critics of >utilitarianism, one of whom notes that according to utilitarianism there is >"nothing intrinsically wrong with sacrificing an important individual >interest to a greater sum of lesser interests. That assumption is retained >in the foundations of the theory, and it remains a source of moral concern." > >Notice the quantitative connotation of this philosophy -- "as long as enough >individuals...", "...a greater sum of lesser interests...", etc. Clearly, >by striving to make our decisions and actions conform to a collective >majority, we impugn the meaning of value as proprietary sensibility. Since >all behavioral values are represented in Nature, I find SA's moral >imperative "being one with nature" somewhat ambiguous. > >I maintain that existence is an anthropocentric reality, that value >realization is primarily a human function. Like experience itself, all >value is proprietary to the individual. Your likes and interests are >self-serving, and no amount of persuasion by other individuals, no matter >how many or how powerful, can change your values without violating your >freedom to choose. Apart from the blind obedience demanded of monarchs and >priests, values come into being by the psycho-emotional realization of the >individual. Social values change only when individuals change their >valuistic perspective of reality. > >I am an advocate of rational self-interest, and by "rational" I mean the >ability to discern the value (positive or negative) in applying my chosen >course of action to mankind at large. This has nothing to do with numbers >or quantities of human beings. Generally it can be described in terms of >the Golden Rule: Do unto others what you would want them to do to you, or as >Kant expressed it in his Categorical Imperative: "Act only according to that >maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a >universal law." Underlying this principle is the value rational people >innately sense toward their fellow man. > >The reality we have to deal with here is that not all people are rational; >therefore laws must be established whereby the society may legally punish, >incarcerate or rehabilitate those who behave in an inhumane, criminal, or >malevolent manner. This rule applies as well to the sovereign interests and >behaviors of nations in the world community. > >If this interpretation of moral values doesn't make sense, kindly tell me >why. > >Regards, >Ham > > >Moq_Discuss mailing list >Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. >http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org >Archives: >http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ >http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
