physeter

jakelafort wrote:
Unseen, i agree with all you’ve written in your shrinkflation post. I am seeing shrinkflation detonation. It is really bad. Apropos of not much i have always despised cow’s milk. It is pretty weird for an adult to drink milk and then of a different species. I have switched to oat milk and find it not great but better than mil…

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Simon Paynton wrote:
I think narcissism is amoral – competitive – seeking “my” benefit – rather than moral – cooperative – seeking “our” benefit.

You’re just proposing a definition, basically, which doesn’t constitute a proof of anything. It’s just you expressing your attitude.

Unseen, i agree with all you’ve written in your shrinkflation post. I am seeing shrinkflation detonation. It is really bad.

Apropos of not much i have always despised cow’s milk. It is pretty weird for an adult to drink milk and then of a different species. I have switched to oat milk and find it not great but better than milk.

Unseen wrote:
Narcissism is built on a moral system which asks things like How does this affect me? or Does doing this give my enemy an advantage?

I think narcissism is amoral – competitive – seeking “my” benefit – rather than moral – cooperative – seeking “our” benefit.

Davis wrote:
I think that all moral systems deal with actions and consequences.

Is that true or is it that any system which didn’t do so wouldn’t qualify as a moral system?

Narcissism is built on a moral system which asks things like How does this affect me? or Does doing this give my enemy an advantage?

@ Enco

I’m a little more concerned with what’s called “shrinkflation,” where, instead or raising prices, they give you less.

Now, a strict libertarian will invoke “buyer beware” and think that anyone who doesn’t read the entire (often quite detailed) label for changes is just stupid. Never mind that doing so would mean also knowing what was on…[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:
And then there are jerks from the dairy industry wanting the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on makers of soy, oat, nut, and plant-based milk for using the term “milk,” even though no one who has tasted plant-based milk would seriously think it comes from cows:

It’s a bit of a strange scenario. The word ‘ju…[Read more]

Davis wrote:
I think that all moral systems deal with actions and consequences.

We can’t know what consequences are going to be, so we can only act with goals in mind.  Moral principles, right actions, are designed to bring about these goals (i.e., mutual benefit).  So, they’re good in themselves.

It means human agents shot children and not one gun law ever stopped a criminal from obtaining a firearm.

It is easy for anyone, not just criminals, to get a firearm. Even dumb criminals have no problem obtaining one. Often child criminals under 7 years of age have no problem finding one before killing a parent or sibling. About 34% of those…[Read more]

Fellow Unbelievers,

The lies in your grocery store.

This story reminds me of the jerk from California who is suing Texas Pete Hot Sauce because it is made in Garner, North Carolina and is engaged in false advertising, even though anyone who can read the ingredients can look near them to clearly see it says the sauce is made in Winston-Salem,…[Read more]

Reg,

It means human agents shot children and not one gun law ever stopped a criminal from obtaining a firearm.

It also means whoever compiled the statistics classifies adults as children and presumably thinks we are all children and need the paternalistic guidance of children.

It also means those using the statistics to justify violating the…[Read more]

I think that all moral systems deal with actions and consequences. Consequentialism (a highly problematic approach in my opinion) obviously deals with consequences more. I would not characterise deontological systems as focussing on one more than the other. It is a fairly unique system, quite different to the others in many aspects and it includes…[Read more]

If I am correct, then deontology and virtue ethics deal with the right (actions) while consequentialism deals with the good (desired consequences).  Both are important in my opinion, and they’re not separate.

What makes a good ethical system?  One that accurately reflects reality (nature), or one that can tell us what to do?  Or both?

The et…[Read more]

Deontological ethical systems (especially some more modern versions of them) of which Kant’s ethical system is an example, is the strongest ethical system there is. While it is not always practical (and no one ever said it isn’t) it demonstrates quite clearly that moral laws are formulated for a reason and breaking them (even in anticipation of it…[Read more]

When you adjust for this fact, then number of children killed by firearms in 2020 drops from 4357 to 2270…….

Phew! what a relief to know this.  Only one child on average killed by a bullet ever 4 hours instead of every 2 hours,  even adjusting for the leap year.

TheEncogitationer wrote:
As the article so noted. The best anyone can do is go with known knowns.

The whole point is that there isn’t away to do that reliably. If you only go with accurately reported incidents, you’d get an underestimate, but if you conduct surveys prone to selection bias or inaccurate accounts then you’ll go over. Different…[Read more]

Unseen,

BTW, along with the increasing frequency of mass shootings, in the last couple years we passed another milestone (gall stone?): Death by gun surpassed death in car crashes for our children age 1-19. Maybe if we gave our kids guns to defend themselves with, the could go back to dying in cars instead(?).

One small problem with this:…[Read more]

Autumn,

Defensive gun use statistics vary considerably study to study. It’s not necessarily the fault of researchers—it’s a difficult thing to quantify. Issues like selection bias, poor sampling, underreporting, false positives can all potentially swing numbers way up and way down.

As the article so noted. The best anyone can do is go with…[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:
Deontological theories of ethics such as Kant’s never satisfied me. After all, humans are beings in a Natural Universe with Cause and Effect and are living beings whose acts have consequences and who act upon potential gains and harms to their own life and flourishing and that of others. It is ridiculous to insist that h…

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“You question asked if my defence would be the same if the target were child molesters as if who the target was had some bearing on the bigotry in question. Why would it change? Why would who the target is matter? If it doesn’t matter, then what’s the point of the question? If you understood the argument I was putting forward then the question had…[Read more]