harrystottle's favorite ethics pages, page 1

Last login: 13 hours agoHarrystottle: Harry is a guy from Bristol, England, UK.; Likes 3,770 pages, 126 videos, 20 photos • 95 fans • Received 13 reviews; Member since Oct 03, 2005

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My Abstinence Education & de-conversion: Jul 29, 1:48am 4 reviews ethics, religion, atheism
http://de-conversion.com/2008/04/19/my-abstinence-education/; Key Phrase: "Jesus gave me the perfect excuse to hold onto a juvenile morality"

First, congratulations to the author for breaking the spell. She has done a great service by illuminating the inner reasoning going on in the religious mind. Her words will help convert/de-convert far more believers than the atheist site I was bitching about last night.

I'll have to expand on this elsewhere but in that one sentence you see the root of the self deception required to sustain religious belief.

If that was where it stopped, religion would be pathetic but harmless, but it's what happens next that causes religion to become a social poison. The self deceivers feel obligated to spread the deception. Hence, for example the drive to "public prayer" (coincidentally discussed by the very next story I stumbled) which is a naked and naive attempt at social conditioning.

They also feel disturbed and challenged by the very public activities of those who haven't chosen their narrow path. They feel compelled either to make those challenges invisible (by shutting themselves away from the data) or impossible (by persuading governments to enact laws which support their fears and prejudice).

This is the single most important source of the major ongoing conflicts around the world.

Declare! neo.org: Global Citizenship Declaration: Jun 1, 3:19pm 2 reviews activism, ethics
http://www.neo.org/; No, no, no, no, no, no, NO.

AINT NOTHING 'KING SACRED ABOUT IT.

JUST 'KING COMMON INTERESTS AND COMMON 'KING SENSE.

STOP 'KING MYSTIFYING IT.

IT'S ALL VERY VERY SIMPLE.

DO

AS

YOU

WOULD

BE

DONE

BY.

GEDDIT?

A Handout for Statists: May 26, 4:16pm 3 reviews ethics, politics, democracy
http://www.strike-the-root.com/72/molyneux/molyneux4.html; this is an eloquent rendition of one aspect of the philosophy of the American Libertarians. As an anarchist myself I am sympathetic to many of their conclusions but their arguments are woolly. Their starting point is the raising of non-coercion to a philosophical or ethical principle. It isn't. It is merely an aspiration (which I share). The difference is crucial.

Consider the "driving on the roads" case which Molyneux nimbly sidesteps. It is obviously the case that if we do not enforce the decision to drive on one side of the road, we will cause large numbers of road deaths. This is more than enough to justify the "coercion" required to persuade people to conform, purely on the basis of our right to self defence (which the libertarians support).

So there cannot be a blanket ban on coercion. The real questions are:
a) when is such coercion justified
b) who should make the decision
c) who should implement the decision and
d) what means are acceptable when implementing the decision (and who should decide that and so on)

The only clear ethical principle we can voice in regard to coercion is that we cannot oblige ANYONE to accept it as just or fair. Like the Democratic Cannibals, each of retains the right to fight for our own interests regardless of consensus against us.

We may well submit to the coercion for sensible tactical reasons (we are clearly outgunned) but that does not imply that we "accept" the coercion in any way other than, as Molyneux suggests, a slave accepts lunch.

Space Euphoria: An Astronaut Explains How Leaving the Planet Opened His Eyes to …: May 25, 6:44pm 46 reviews astronomy, ethics, quantum-cosmology
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/05/space-euphoria.html; I was surprised to see jcharliem's comment because the link with quantum cosmology is obvious. True, it is overhyped when presented in the format of "What The Bleep" but although they've dressed up their new age beliefs in a bit of quantum mumbo jumbo, there is actually more than a kernel of truth in their message.

Think Pond, Stones and Ripples.

Every particle in existence is a stone cast into the pond, where it causes ripples on the surface. Inevitably, every ripple crosses and interferes with all the other ripples and is interfered with in turn by them. That surface represents our universe as described (in a little more detail) by Quantum Cosmology; and we and all our particles are the ripples, the standing waves, within it. In that most intimate physical sense we are all absolutely and unequivocally connected to everything else.

The problem is that this insight, while it provides an interesting perspective, doesn't provide a solution to our ethical questions. Knowing that we're connected to everything else doesn't make dealing with our problems any easier. The notion that it should is a romantic ideal based on the conditioning we have to support Family. If all of existence can be thought of as Family, so the romance goes, then surely we can appreciate the benefits of being nice to each other!

So you're going to stop eating are you? Or is it reasonable to cannibalise some parts of the Family for the benefit of other, more advanced parts?

Attempts to answer the Third Question need to be deeper than that. What The Bleep's is a religious approach which somewhat misses the point. There ARE no guidelines out there waiting to be discovered. Nor even an imperative to create them. It is all entirely optional. If we want to maximise our ability to survive, ultimately with a view to making mortality itself optional, then WE have to create our own guidelines - our own route map out of the maze.

The only relevant question is do we give enough of a damn and are we intelligent enough to do so. The jury is still out on both questions.

Ask An Atheist: May 11, 4:15pm 7 reviews anarchism, ethics, religion, democracy, liberty
http://www.askanatheist.org/articles/homosexualsfundamentalists.html; I have a problem with this. Obviously I support their sentiments but the basis of their argument for "not opposing" gay sex is that there may be a genetic predisposition to it in some people and other animals. This is utterly irrelevant.

If I want to get my rocks off fucking the hose off a vaccuum cleaner, that is no business or concern of anyone except me and, perhaps, the owner of said vaccuum cleaner. Providing my behaviour is not causing harm to a 3rd party (without their free and informed consent), no 3rd party has any relevant input into my decision. The same applies to gay sex, premarital sex, the use of recreational drugs, playing violent video games, porn etc etc.

Genetics has buggerall to do with ethics. THAT is the fundamental error made by Leo Strauss - the spiritual father of the Neocons. Let's try to avoid that kind of nonsense on our side of the fence...

Journal of Religion and Society: Apr 25, 9:19am 20 reviews ethics, religion, atheism
http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html; later dude...

PETA offers $1m for test tube chicken | The Register: Apr 22, 8:22am 2 reviews ethics, politics, meat
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/22/peta_wants_test_tube_meat/; good idea (well I would say that given this, wouldn't I) but don't hold your breath...

Mother needing transplant is refused dead daughters kidney, despite girls deathb…: Apr 12, 5:31pm 1 review ethics, medicine, democracy, organ-donation, autonomy
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=5...; These are the comments on the obscene story about the medics overriding a dying daughter's wish to donate her kidneys to her sick mother.

Doctors tell mother needing transplant she cannot take dead daughters kidney, de…: Apr 12, 5:26pm 1 review ethics, news, organ-donation
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=5...; another clear abuse of power. This time medical rather than political. If it is anything but a Statement of the Bleedin Obvious that a dying person has the right to dictate to whom she donates one or more of her spare parts then the ethics committee is playing with an angel short of a pinhead...