BlackDog
New member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2013
- Messages
- 569
- MBTI Type
- NiTe
- Enneagram
- 9w8
- Instinctual Variant
- so/sx
Does evil look less evil the further you 'telescope' your view of an event?
To take a small example, suppose you a random person standing in a McDonald's, and you see someone be really rude to the cashier.
Now suppose you weren't there, but a third party tells you about it.
Now suppose time has passed, and you are a random person reading the biography of the person who was rude; they turned out to be a famous inventor who revolutionized fuel cell technology and ended reliance on fossil fuels. This incident comes into the book as one of those little illustrations that let you into understanding the totality of someone's personality.
Suppose more time has passed, and you are reading a book on the typical psychology of inventive personalities, and how certain kinds of behaviors are paired (this is real) like creativity and disagreeableness.
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My opinion of what should happen has done a 360 by the time I reach this last story. If I'm right up close to the event, I view the rudeness as evil. If I'm very far away, I actively desire it to take place if it encourages creativity and a better future.
I think this effect generalizes across many different kinds of evil. Is it inconsistent with morality, and is there a way to reconcile the big picture with the close up?
To take a small example, suppose you a random person standing in a McDonald's, and you see someone be really rude to the cashier.
Now suppose you weren't there, but a third party tells you about it.
Now suppose time has passed, and you are a random person reading the biography of the person who was rude; they turned out to be a famous inventor who revolutionized fuel cell technology and ended reliance on fossil fuels. This incident comes into the book as one of those little illustrations that let you into understanding the totality of someone's personality.
Suppose more time has passed, and you are reading a book on the typical psychology of inventive personalities, and how certain kinds of behaviors are paired (this is real) like creativity and disagreeableness.
-------------
My opinion of what should happen has done a 360 by the time I reach this last story. If I'm right up close to the event, I view the rudeness as evil. If I'm very far away, I actively desire it to take place if it encourages creativity and a better future.
I think this effect generalizes across many different kinds of evil. Is it inconsistent with morality, and is there a way to reconcile the big picture with the close up?