ThatsWhatHeSaid
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- May 11, 2007
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Einstein said "I believe that Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all the political men (sic) in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil."
Most of the moral philosophers I've encountered (in my Philosophy of Ethics class as an undergrad) tried to explain what moral behavior was using some type of objective formula, like Kant's Categorical Imperative. Einstein's quote made me think about building a philosophy out of subjective feelings, based on beliefs rather than logical conclusions. In building a system or philosophy, I can think of a few important considerations: (1) will lay people be able to use it to guide their behavior? (2) does it create what we typically call "moral" behavior? How does this system measure up against those benchmarks?
Lets say you were Einstein, and a person from the audience objected by saying "people can't be trusted to make moral decisions on their own, because they can't distinguish between what is 'evil' and what merely disturbs their own personal success." How would you respond?
I have a few ideas about it, but I'll wait until people respond or until the thread dies.
Most of the moral philosophers I've encountered (in my Philosophy of Ethics class as an undergrad) tried to explain what moral behavior was using some type of objective formula, like Kant's Categorical Imperative. Einstein's quote made me think about building a philosophy out of subjective feelings, based on beliefs rather than logical conclusions. In building a system or philosophy, I can think of a few important considerations: (1) will lay people be able to use it to guide their behavior? (2) does it create what we typically call "moral" behavior? How does this system measure up against those benchmarks?
Lets say you were Einstein, and a person from the audience objected by saying "people can't be trusted to make moral decisions on their own, because they can't distinguish between what is 'evil' and what merely disturbs their own personal success." How would you respond?
I have a few ideas about it, but I'll wait until people respond or until the thread dies.