A. In a situation in where one person is being harmed and the other is doing the harming which is the most to be avoided, harming the other or being harmed by another? ect.
My honest answer would be that it is usually "better" to be the harmer then it is to be the one being harmed, but I think the question is a little vague. Different situations call for different values, the situation that is "most to be avoided" changes as goals and contexts change. For example I was a vegetarian for three years but if it came down to me eating a cow or a cow eating me there was really no choice. I don't think in that situation a person would be called unethical, even though I think eating meat is ethically dubious, just rational or perhaps a better word be "sensible."
B. What skills should we work to possess? The skills to persuade people that we are right or the skill to actually be right.
This question assumes that objective truth exists while the last one simply hints at the idea of a universal ethical maxim that exists outside of perception. Both questions are similiar in that they seek to find whether the person answering believes in a reality outside perception in which absolute truth, including absolute ethical truth exists. I think this question sets up the idea that particular beliefs can be shown to be "correct," whereas in the case of things like ethics I don't think our language conforms to reality, or at least perceived reality, enough to make a "correct" statement that could be verifiable.
My first answer to this question was that I'd rather be actually right then be able to persuade people I was right. After reading the question closely, however, I saw that it was only in regards to "beliefs." A belief can't be right or wrong, that's what makes it a belief. This opens up a whole discussion regarding the status of belief statements and the difference between these statements and others that I hope will help me better crystalize the problems and discussions in the field of ethics. Currently I am having a lot of trouble putting the concepts of ethics (or even the idea of ethics) in a way that I can understand.
2 comments:
What can't a belief be right or wrong? If you believe that I have an identical twin sister, that belief is wrong.
i think what you're saying is that beliefs about morals can never be deemed right or wrong because there's no way to quantify them. If jmc doesn't have a twin sister, that's a fact, whether or not you believe it. but if jmc believes in reincarnation, you can't say that's wrong. who knows?
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