On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 6:57 AM, Steven Peterson <[email protected]>wrote:
> Hi Arlo, > > On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 9:44 AM, Arlo Bensinger <[email protected]> wrote: > > [Steve] > > Scientists will tell you that not washing your hands after using the > > bathroom spreads disease. Have you ever been forced by a scientist to > wash > > your hands? > > > > [Arlo interjects] > > Well I don't know if its a "scientist" who does the enforcement, but you > can > > damn well but that in many situations such "force" is warranted. I WANT > > doctors and chefs and those that handle my food, and those that work in > > delivery rooms... and I am sure you can think of many other situations, > > where your "right" not to wash your hands is superceded by the dangers > posed > > to me (and others) by the transmission of germs. Your doctor gives up the > > "right" not to wash his hands when he accepts the role of treating your > > wounds, your chef gives up the "right" not to wash his hands when he > accepts > > the role of preparing and handling your food. > > > > I would think the MOQ argument would be that society has the moral right > to > > coerce such behavior because if left uncoerced the biological fallout > could > > undermine the stable functioning of society. > > > Steve: > Right. And we don't need to appeal to any special MOQ vocabulary here > to make the case. It is clear that disease threatens human wellbeing > and our handwashing practices affect the health of others, therefore > we have a moral obligation to do it especially in the food service and > medical fields. It is time for scientists to stop pretending that > science has no moral consequences, and time for liberal intellectuals > who are cultiral relativists to stop pretending that we know nothing > about morals (that morals are merely the practices that unite a given > society with nothing to be right or wrong about). > [Mark applauds] Yes Steve, you are right on with that paragraph (IMO). Cheers. > > Enforcement of such a moral obligation is of course not done by > scientists. Like always, when we know that something is immoral we > still need to decide through the democratic process when it is and is > not important and justified to enforce a moral obligation through the > coercive power of government (itself a moral question that oinly > rational inquiry can inform us about). But such decisions are best > made with the knowledge of what is right and wrong in a given > situation--knowledge that we can only acquire through rational > inquiry. > [Mark cautions] Any enforcement should be viewed with skepticism, eg. Kill the intellectuals, kill them all. > > Best, > Steve > 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/md/archives.html > 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/md/archives.html
