|
CuriousLord -> RE: Pro-lifers. Put up or Shut up. (6/22/2007 2:09:06 AM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: philosophy
.....i can see you're tired CL......obvious logical flaw there i'm afraid. If you argue against my point that empathy is not the touchstone for morality that you suggested earlier, it doesn't help your position to then suggest that empathy is a constant across all interactions with all humans. There sems to me to be an obvious dissonance betwen arguing for universality of empathy while simultaneously suggesting that there can be humans for whom we feel no empathy for and can therefore act in an immoral way.
I think you're misunderstanding me, though it's.. a lil past the point I can recongize what this might've referred to. Empathy effects things- how they're weighed in interests. It is not the sole factor, and it varies across individuals and their specific considerations. It can be outweighed by other empathies- such as, one can steal from a homeless man if he doesn't empathzie with the homeless fellow at all, or very, very slimly. You see, he also empathizes with himself- or, in common, identities self as self. While a that poor man's next meal may only be convinence for him, he cares enough about himself over the homeless man as to be able to take it.
I'd ask you think a little more. I do not feel you've.. found my point.
quote:
ORIGINAL: philosophy
...perhaps this is a better argument, a non-absolute view of degree of empathy is certainly nearer reality. However, what you are describing is not the same as morality. Morality is an artefact, a human construct. We can choose to act morally....and we can also choose to ignore our degree of empathy with the target while doing so.......arguably this is a major aspect of civilised behaviour......
To be blunt, the idea of a human "chosing" over coming to something for a set of reasons, considering the human mind as free-acting, wreaks of intellectual surrender to the notion of free will, failing to remove it from one's considerations.
This is to say, you said "we can also chose to ignore [...]", yet I'm talking about why we make that chose, while you seem to be just taking it for granted.. looking at a smaller part of the picture. Empathy- its varing degrees and contrasts- are a large part of the choice.
And, yes, morality can be seen as a construct. It can even become a construct, proper, to an extent (~Kay's). Nonetheless, there is a rhyme and reason.
quote:
ORIGINAL: philosophy
hope you had a good rest [:)]
Better than I've had in a good while, though, here I am, at 5:08 AM, posting again. I can't stop working on this project.. it's become far too much of an obsession. It's a couple months from complete, though, so, by then, we'll see if I get back on schedule. Classes start back up in less than three weeks, so, if nothing else, those will force me into more of a standard schedule. Hope it's going well enough for you, too.
|
|
|
|
