Thy Plague Doctor

Thanks Reg!

Thanks, Reg!

His attitude is “I am fucked either way”

I mean…come on Reg…this is just some vulgar moral dilemma that has no real life application. What does that have to do with ethics? This guys problem is rubbish. What can we possibly learn from any decision he makes?

If push comes to shove, that’s all we’ve got.

No. There are many moral systems that are not based on “least harm”. There are so many problems with a “least harm” approach, not least of all the fact that harm is relative in so many ways. It is most certainly not “all we got”.

I see Simon. So a moral dilemma is some special case that sits outside the realm of ethics? The general principles of a moral system don’t have to take difficult decisions into account?

I find it very surprising that you cannot take a thought experiment as simply an extreme version of what can easily be transferred to more mundane yet difficult…[Read more]

A city council in a provincial town has decided to add a large amount of traffic lights to a moderately used street in a neighborhood. Several children have been hit by cars recently. A clerk who knows about the topic but isn’t responsible for any of those decisions is debating whether to advise the people responsible on the subject. She knows…[Read more]

The trolly experiment isn’t rubbish at all. It’s an important study in ethics for so many reasons and the conclusions are applicable in many situations, one countless professionals have to made…ones made by several people every day, even in very abstract ways. The trolly problem forces you to deal with several issues all at the same time…[Read more]

I don’t think it’s particularly crazy to “test your faith” in dangerous ways if you truely honestly believe that a man in the sky controls everything and will protect you if that is his will. It’s the belief in the man in the sky that is crazy. Of course…she shouldn’t be allowed to have a license or perhaps be left with children. But its,…[Read more]

Thanks, Reg!

@Simon

I really don’t think we disagree much on the issue. All I do is urge caution on not taking the “alpha male spreading the seed”  and “female cowering for protection” to the extent that many do in the popularization of human sexuality. Yeah many species of canines and felines do and some primates but most mammals are actually quite solitary…[Read more]

Yeah Reg. He doesn’t really touch on exactly what we are talking about in the Naked Ape or the Human Animal but yeah, I’d say, how many decades later now? They are still extremely worth the read and very relevant to today. It’s amazing how little of it has yet disseminated into public consciousness. He does go into early humans in “The human zoo”…[Read more]

For the sources I’ll have to look them up next time I’m at the philosophy library in Leuven, Belgium. One was a book by Desmond Morris and another was a book by Dennis Dutton. If you’re seriously interested in reading these titles (covering early humans) I’ll look up the titles for you.

Thanks Reg!  (Bit of local snowmageddon took out the WiFi for a bit)