Amalac

Maybe to you it is, but not to me. If you follow the imperative, then you think (because of what the imperative says) that lying is wrong in any situa...

What I don't understand is why this mere logical possibility in some hypothetical world has any relevance to how we should act in the actual world, wh...

Why should I care about those “virtue points”? Well, if he does it for a reason other than it making him feel better, or reducing his suffering in som...

But I didn't ask him what he would have done, I asked him if he thinks what I did is wrong. So that doesn't answer the question. I didn't mean to impl...

And? I think I'm justified in killing someone to prevent another person from being tortured. I should have added, though, that this is only if there's...

If that's the case, he would be making a judgement on me. But Mww says deontologists don't make such judgements on others, but only on themselves. So ...

Let's not get lost, the question was this one: That's after I have already lied.

So, to go back to the example I gave to tim, if I ask a deontologist if he thinks it was wrong for me to lie to the man on his deathbed about his son’...

Just look at the evidence: if blood loss to the brain entails that the person is far more likely to be in a euphoric state rather than suffering badly...

The deontologist also makes judgements on others, since he thinks they are acting wrong when they lie, or borrow money. And supposing he doesn't, why ...

If I knew it was more likely that you wouldn't suffer in that state, rest assured I wouldn't shoot you.

And now you are using rethorical traps? Of course “immoral person” for you means “someone who does not follow Kantian ethics”. So why not just state i...

Those who claim that it is inconsistent either offer a circular argument (assuming Kant's criterion is the correct one for determining whether an acti...

I think I'd be acting correctly based on my consequentialist criterion. As for whether I or not I “had a right” to make that decision, that doesn't se...

I think we will never agree on this point. What's the responsibility in the example I gave? The man will die soon, and I just want him to have some pe...

And what's wrong with “depending on their actions” in that sense? Again, is it likely that everybody, or at least a majority of people will suddenly a...

Ok. Ok, I'm glad that was cleared up. I was under the impression that Kant held some form of moral cognitivism. So far so good... ... And now you've c...

I was referring to Kolakowski's example of someone who lies whenever he pleases, I'm not like that. Most of the time I don't lie, but I think lying ca...

I'm not a liar, in the sense that I don't always lie whenever I please, although I think lying can be justified in some circumstances, unlike Kant. Wh...

Ok. Then just answer me this: why, according to Kant, do we have to act as the categorical imperative says, instead of basing our actions on consequen...

Hmm thanks, but I'm afraid that just confused me even more.

The burden of proof is in those who claim that a liar who wants others to be honest is somehow logically inconsistent with his goals by acting like th...

Well, I personally still find the utilitarian/consequentialist criterion more persuasive. Sure, you can't be certain about the consequences of an acti...

The OP's quote comes from the book Religion: If There is No God...on God, the Devil, Sin and Other Worries of the So-Called Philosophy of Religion, no...

Here you go: These are just a few among other passages. I didn't mean that consequences are wholly irrelevant for Kant, only that because they are unc...

Remember that in the post you quoted I defined being ethical as “acting in accordance with the categorical imperative”, in order to show the trivial w...

Didn't Kant say that the consequences of an action are not morally relevant to virtue? If so, why would the influence due to our actions be relevant i...

I agree. What Kolakowski is doubting is whether or not the way to be ethical is the one suggested by Kant, instead of utilitarianism or some other eth...

Nice one. It is formulations 1 and 3 that I had in mind, and I think Kolakowski probably had them in mind as well. I think 2 is different. If, for ins...

So either Kant offers no argument for accepting that what the categorical imperative says is true (which he considered to be a synthetic a priori trut...

...what?

The golden rule doesn't apply to actions like voting (those actions which you don't do to someone) though and sometimes people want to be told a lie r...

Not sure I quite get what you mean by this, but your concern has, I think, already been addressed in the OP:

What I mean is that the factual claim that an individual's action changes nothing, in the cases of such actions as voting or buying meat, is probably ...

I guess he means that it doesn't make sense to say “it is impossible for the same thing to be and not be at the same time” if time is unreal. But thos...

I think 5 is a non sequitur. Let’s say we are trying to figure out if time A (the Big Bang, for example) was the first moment or not. If the universe ...

What a persuasive argument, you just don't like what I said there. Maybe you could say why that is? Why you dislike effective altruism, I mean.

Let's take as an illustration two notable christian philosophers, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine: Is there a way to persuade someone who, li...

My criteria for measuring moral goodness would be how much that person's actions decrease the total amount of suffering of sentient beings, as well as...

I'm aware that there are many vegans, in Central and South America for instance, who espouse different, more radical views than mine. Those who, for i...

To my eyes that would be an advance. I do think it's better to, for example, eat a burger per month instead of eating a burger per day, and that not e...

Doesn't free speech allow me to say if I consider someone's actions right or wrong according to my moral compass and giving reasons for my judgement? ...

Why? I think all I'd have to prove is that it's bad, even if it's not as bad as torturing people. I gave examples of other actions that I consider bad...

I took those definitions from a dictionary, I didn't make them up. Anyhow, think specifically about physically torturing humans for amusement. I don't...

Here are some possible definitions of the word “cruelty”: A) “Callous indifference to or pleasure in causing pain and suffering”. B) “Behavior that ca...

What would you call what is done to pigs and cows in that industry then? Call it whatever you want, I don't care for debates about semantics. I can ju...

To be precise it’s not eating meat which I think is wrong, it’s purchasing meat, because when many people purchase animal products, they cause more an...

Only if you think adopting a philosophy which opposes to theft, torture, slavery, etc, is also to take an “evangelist” attitude. I, for example, haven...

I already answered that leaving them in a state of nature is not the only alternative to torturing animals for food, there are sanctuaries for fish to...