Tema: Re: Universally Preferable Behaviour: A Rational Proof of Secular Ethics
Autorius: Doc
Data: 2009-03-08 17:29:29
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<DIV>Iš chemijos, kvantinės fizikos, archeologijos ir visokių kitokių mokslų 
pusės ši knyga nėra labai stipri taip pat, nes ne šių mokslų problemas ji 
nagrinėja :) Šiaip repect'as bičiukui, visiškai sėkmingai sugebėjo racionaliai 
išnagrinėti problemas, kurios iš pirmo žvilgsnio atrodo ne racionalaus mokslo 
sritis, o subjektyvūs žmonių įsitikinimai, turintys labai mažai bendro&nbsp;su 
objektyvumu ir racionalumu.</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>Dar pora citatų apie šioje knygoje nagrinėjamos problemos aktualumą:</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>Why bother with defining ethical theories? Surely good people don’t need 
them, and bad people don’t<BR>consult them. People will do what they prefer, and 
just make up justifications as needed after the fact –<BR>why bother lecturing 
people about morality?<BR>Of course, the danger always exists that an immoral 
person will attack you for his own hedonistic<BR>purposes. It could also be the 
case that, despite clean and healthy living, you may be struck down by<BR>cancer 
before your time – the former does not make the science of morality irrelevant, 
any more than<BR>the latter makes the sciences of medicine, nutrition and 
exercise irrelevant. One demonstrable effect of a<BR>rational science of 
morality must be to reduce your chances of suffering immoral actions such as 
theft,<BR>murder and rape.</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>An objective review of human history would seem to point to the grim 
reality that by far the most<BR>dangerous thing in the world is false ethical 
systems.<BR>If we look at an ethical system like communism, which was 
responsible for the murders of 170<BR>million people, we can clearly see that 
the real danger to individuals was not random criminals, but false<BR>moral 
theories. Similarly, the Spanish Inquisition relied not on thieves and 
pickpockets, but rather priests<BR>and torturers filled with the desire to save 
the souls of others. Nazism also relied on particular ethical<BR>theories 
regarding the relationship between the individual and the collective, and the 
moral imperative<BR>to serve those in power, as well as theories “proving” the 
innate virtues of the Aryan race.<BR>Over and over again, throughout human 
history, we see that the most dangerous instruments in the<BR>hands of men are 
not guns, or bombs, or knives, or poisons, but rather moral theories. From the 
“divine<BR>right of kings” to the endlessly legitimized mob rule of modern 
democracies, from the ancestor worship<BR>of certain Oriental cultures to the 
modern deference to the nation-state as personified by a political<BR>leader, to 
those who pledge their children to the service of particular religious 
ideologies, it is clear that<BR>by far the most dangerous tool that men possess 
is morality. Unlike science, which merely describes<BR>what is, and what is to 
be, moral theories exert a near-bottomless influence over the hearts and minds 
of<BR>men by telling them what ought to be.<BR>When our leaders ask for our 
obedience, it is never to themselves as individuals, they claim, but rather 
to<BR>“the good” in the abstract. JFK did not say: “Ask not what I can do for 
you, but rather what you can do for<BR>me...” Instead, he substituted the words 
“your country” for himself. Service to “the country” is considered<BR>a virtue – 
although the net beneficiaries of that service are always those who rule 
citizens by force. In the<BR>past (and sometimes even into the present), leaders 
identified themselves with God, rather than with<BR>geography, but the principle 
remains the same. For Communists, the abstract mechanism that justifies<BR>the 
power of the leaders is class; for fascists it is the nation; for Nazis it is 
the race; for democrats it is<BR>“the will of the people”; for priests it is 
“the will of God” and so on.<BR>Ruling classes inevitably use ethical theories 
to justify their power for the simple reason that human<BR>beings have an 
implacable desire to act in accordance to what they believe to be “the good.” If 
service to<BR>the Fatherland can be defined as “the good,” then such service 
will inevitably be provided. If obedience<BR>to military superiors can be 
defined as “virtue” and “courage,” then such violent slavery will be 
endlessly<BR>praised and performed.</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>--</DIV>
<DIV>Doc</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>"shedeuw" &lt;<A href="mailto:shedeuw@yahoo.com">shedeuw@yahoo.com</A>&gt; 
wrote in message <A 
href="news:gov28n$ot5$1@trimpas.omnitel.net">news:gov28n$ot5$1@trimpas.omnitel.net</A>...</DIV>&gt; 
Is filosofines puses gal ir verta kazko, bet is psichologines, kiek rodo tavo 
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