JacobPhilosophy

Interesting. He only asks for 5% of annual income to be given to the right charities. I feel that self-interest doesn't rule out moral obligation. My ...

I disagree. Pain is a form of stimuli that alerts us of danger, in order to AVOID death. It's a system engrained into us in order to prevent death. Th...

I'd say the difference between that and my hypothetical is that Y has a natural and biological understanding of death, and therefore anarchy would sti...

1 is a rough number I just picked. I see the irrationality of picking a random characteristic that doesn't apply to me and saying it is permissible to...

yes, I was assuming that someone was over 1 year old. How do I quote? I did the whole quote /quote thing but how do I make it say the person's name un...

but if it were illegal for anyone over the age of 1 to die it wouldn't cause me to feel insecure

Good point. I I think I was just trying to say that my personal philosophy is a branch of NU, and if no net suffering is caused, the even is neither m...

I explained that killing someone with no friends or family is wrong because it would lead to people, such as myself, feeling unsafe and insecure in so...

it's more of a rationalisation than a basis from which to act, although there is some overlap.

I believe that at a point in evolution, we began to agree to a contact of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours". For example, helping an injured a...

I think the safe escape is using, as I have previously mentioned, the argument that moral worth beings as sentience and the ability to suffer begins. ...

it could be argued that living in a society in which it is ok to kill babies would lead to desensitisation and distress, as it goes against our biolog...

no I just find it easier to refer to it as NU. I wouldn't follow it for the sake of it. I subscribe to a version of it, so to speak. To me, ethics are...

I think I agree. This is why I believe, under my view, that it is amoral, and simply not a moral issue.

if you think about it, moral value must begin when the ability to suffer begins, in regards to NU, right? So in regards to abortion, it is wrong to ki...

so murder is only permissible using NU when the baby is suffering, so as to minimise it in death? If this is the case, how do we decide when an agent ...

my point wasn't that it was morally virtuous to murder the infant, but amoral. It is neither virtuous nor deplorable, if you are taking the standpoint...

maximising pleasure is a consequence of minimising suffering. How can it be immoral to not bring pleasure to an individual? This seems irrational. Whe...

I'm not encouraging it . I'm debating ethics, given that an unwanted child is born

My point was there there wouldn't need to be a reason. They could do it just for the fun of it, and it would cause no suffering, if the murder was pai...

I'm going to have to put a lot more thought into this. Thanks for the discussion, I see your points.

But I benefit from the social institution, whilst simultaneously suffering from it. It deters me from committing the act, but that deterrent also prot...

As I have said previously, the origin of ethics is that of self-interest alone. One doesn't murder to ensure one is not murdered. Mutual benefit. I do...

I get the /quote stuff but I don't get how to show who said it.

How??

Initially, in order to survive. Now it is so ingrained into our being that it is in order to avoid suffering. That's what I think anyway. Btw how do I...

yes, by definition good is almost synonymous with happiness. This is why it's hard to describe altruism, as an egoist myself, because it seems counter...

I worded it poorly. An altruist believes that they engages in an ethical act because it is somewhat inately "good". If they were not to benefit at all...

I never said altruism was anything like that. Read what I said: altruists don't believe it is the ONLY reason. They believe it is secondary - not nece...

This is the key unfalsifiable distinguisher between altruism and egoism. You cannot truly know one's desires. An egoist claims that they do good becau...

Yes, society would be destroyed without our human construct of empathy and morality. This is why we engage in them: to prevent the dystopia in which o...

I wasn't Intending on having a debate about egoism Vs altruism. I just wanted to understand an Egoists view a bit more haha. The argument in regards t...

Egoists claim that ethics is the only way to maximise pleasure. Eg not murdering ensures that you are not murdered. Kind of a contractarian view.

I don't disagree that dictators can't be ethical. What I'm saying is I don't know how you can justify the belief using egoism. Dictators maximise thei...

is that emoji because you're thinking or are you saying it's contradictory?

if that were the case why is it that we avoid death? Surely a rationalist would just give in to a painless death or jump off a bridge.

Well the goal of evolution is to survive and reproduce, no? If we actively avoid procreating, we will become extinct, not because we were unfit for su...

That final situation is that strongest against the asymmetry, as it deals with the suffering of the living. Ultimately, this is why it is inevitable f...

The argument of the asymmetry is that any harm, no matter how miniscule, justifies the sentiment that it would be "better never to have been". This is...

I'm saying you cannot desire the potential for morality to be expressed. This would be the argument presented by saying giving birth (avoiding extinct...

I think that for something to be ethical, there has to have been the potential for something unethical to happen. If this is removed, morality can't b...

Well I'd say in regards to life evolving again, that would be beyond ones control. Also, it doesn't make sense to say that procreation is the only way...

But to say that it is morally virtuous to create a life of pleasure seems irrational to me. As it implies that if one is to avoid parenthood it is the...

Ok, I can accept that supererogatory acts exist, but I don't believe that conceiving a child could be one, as it is not to anyone's benefit.

True, also I think it's kind of an inevitable cycle. I value the pleasure of those that are alive, and parenthood brings pleasure to many people. This...

I see it this way: if it is a guaranteed way to eliminate suffering, without consequence, why aren't we partaking in it?

it seems indifferent to me to consider something "good" if refraining from doing so isn't bad. Also, considering the asymmetry: the absence of pain is...

It's hard to believe this and yet mourn a death or strive for ethical treatment.

It wouldn't. Equally, having an objective meaning wouldn't affect what matters to me as I'd just be a cog in a machine. Then again, I'm a determinist ...

By the way, what reason does a nihilist have for complying to certain morals? If they are meaningless statements, then why care about ethics?