Good and Evil

[devonin]

Re: Good and Evil

If we no longer have to forecast the future and all it's consequences, we no longer have the debate about intent.

Erm...if you aren't considering the intent of the action, OR the consequences of the action, what basis are you using to decide whether an action is good or bad?

And what is your perception of Evil?

I never claimed to have one. I thought it was pretty clear in my statement, when I said "I think the distinction that tha Guardians was trying to make " that I was suggesting that this was what the Guardians was saying, not what I said. I was trying to clear up what seemed to be a bit of a misunderstanding between the two of you.

[Patricoo]

Re: Good and Evil

Erm...if you aren't considering the intent of the action, OR the consequences of the action, what basis are you using to decide whether an action is good or bad?

You can only decide if it's good or bad to certain people and to certain degrees in retrospect. The idea though isn't to base your decisions on the concept of "good or bad", which is why we ask the big question. We try and define it simply to we can easily make "good" decisions, but there are too many exceptions and considerations.

To me, evaluation a decision to see if it was "good" is really just for kicks and giggles. Like a "just for fun" statistics in sports.

[unclesammy]

Re: Good and Evil

Good and evil is undefinable, too generalized and has too many exceptions. Philosophically basing our actions in a way that is good or evil typically just involves more rationalization rather then justification. We are better off defining our own set of principals, patience and respect for others and defining ethics by our own individual standard of living rather then a concept as hazy as good and evil.

Exactly! That is the point of the thesis, although I do believe there are universal concepts of good and evil, based on human nature. The thesis defines what I believe (supported by other theories) to be primary priorities and secondary priorities. It is our confusion with the importance of our secondary priorities which disregard our human nature. It can be somewhat generally summed up with this statement:

"It's not human nature which currently dictates our behavior; rather, it is our social construct which trumps our nature and dictates how we behave"

I haven't looked into Kantianism. I will though. I've covered most of the accepted (due to good argument and factual/evidential support) human behavior theories. Kantianism is most likely a derivitive of one of them.

[unclesammy]

Re: Good and Evil

I was trying to clear up what seemed to be a bit of a misunderstanding between the two of you.

My mistake!