Morals - A set of rules?
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I was thinking that if morals can be listed as a set of rules to follow,
absolutely anyone could learn to become moraly perfect. Without doubts.
Even a computer.
Can morals be reduced/factorized down to a set of rules?
Does the word morals hold a undeserved glare of unequivocal purity?
Quote:Original post by pulpfist
I was thinking that if morals can be listed as a set of rules to follow,
absolutely anyone could learn to become moraly perfect. Without doubts.
Even a computer.
Moral values are relative to a particular context of judgment that decides what is "right" and what is "wrong". It's easy to be "morally perfect" - simply consider everything you do to be "right" in your own mind, and it's trivially moral behavior as far as you're concerned. But it's more interesting to think of moral behavior within the context of what a society or culture (both at a local and global level) considers "right" and "wrong". Then you can actually examine the conflict between multiple sources of morality, i.e. the individual, a community, a religion, etc., which all come into play when we make decisions in our everyday lives.
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There is only one moral: The Golden Rule.
Everything else is just made up by people pushing an agenda.
Everything else is just made up by people pushing an agenda.
One problem is that "perfect" morals must work under every condition, and I haven't seen a single case where a rule didn't have a set of exceptions. I think it's the ability to gracefully deal with exceptions that makes a ruleset effective. Huh...the phrasing of that makes me wonder if there's a std::moral_exception I can throw.
One of my favorite moral systems was the set of rules for just governance developed by Rawls. His theory was that everyone should have the right to do anything that does not infringe on the rights of others. For instance, you don't have the right to steal, because that infringes on the right to own property.
If you're looking for a more personal "this is right" or "this is wrong" decision, you could try Hedonic Calculus / Utility Calculus, Kant's universalized maxims, or Aristotle's virtue-based ethics. Many times the varying moral systems will lead you to different conclusions, which makes the set of perfect morals you mentioned a matter of perspective.
One of my favorite moral systems was the set of rules for just governance developed by Rawls. His theory was that everyone should have the right to do anything that does not infringe on the rights of others. For instance, you don't have the right to steal, because that infringes on the right to own property.
If you're looking for a more personal "this is right" or "this is wrong" decision, you could try Hedonic Calculus / Utility Calculus, Kant's universalized maxims, or Aristotle's virtue-based ethics. Many times the varying moral systems will lead you to different conclusions, which makes the set of perfect morals you mentioned a matter of perspective.
Quote:
There is only one moral: The Golden Rule.
i don't think that this is true.
Imagine a guy who is a little strange, so that he doesn't like sth that the majority of others like. When he follows the golden rule he tries to prevent the other people from sth which is good for them(which is definitely not good)
regards,
m4gnus
Well, first of all, a person's morals are fairly arbitrary to begin with. Secondly, humans are the only creatures capable of having morals and consistency is not a hallmark of the species.
A computer already follows arbitrary (and contradictory) rules perfectly.
A computer already follows arbitrary (and contradictory) rules perfectly.
Quote:Original post by skulldrudgery
Secondly, humans are the only creatures capable of having morals ...
Oh?
John B
I think morals is a realatively personal idea. While there are some that are probably accepted by most people, I believe that they are more about personal views of people than anything else. But regardless of the viariances that run from person to person, having any kind of morals is much better than having no morals at all.
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