8 ms·

>We strive to be polite to other people because of who we are, not because of who they are. That’s what ethics is about. It's a nice concept, but ethics (and t

by serf 9y ago

>We strive to be polite to other people because of who we are, not because of who they are. That’s what ethics is about. It's a nice concept, but ethics (and the idea of politeness) are largely relativistic to the interpreter/actor. Even with the idea of normative ethics being dictated by culture and point-of-view out of the way, there are layers to every ethical/moral choice within each doctrine of thought. Ask people around the world about the ethical treatment of animals, prisoners of war, children, spouses -- you'll get different answers from every individual, with strong weights towards certain behaviors dictated by regional culture and upbringing/experience. tl;dr : I may think that it's being polite not to spit on me for being a member of a lower caste. YOU might think i'm being polite for opening the door for someone behind me. Neither opinion is wrong, it's framed by the culture and the person.

simonh 9y ago
To a point what is ethical can depend on the circumstances. In a tribal society with limited scientific or social structures to support investigations, and appropriate legal and justice system might look appalling from our point of view but be the best they can support. However if you do have the technical and cultural resources to support a professional police force, crime labs, judicial process etc, saying that keeping the tribal justice system is ok because culture is relative becomes unsupportable IMHO. In modern developed society it should never be the case that a person's best economic choice is to sell their health and life for money. It's just not necessary for people to be in that position unless someone wants them to be in that position. Why would anyone want that? What's the motivation for crating those conditions, and if people do want to put people in that position, how can the rest of us trust that the safeguards someone who would want that would put in place are sufficient and robust?

by serf 9y ago

simonh 9y ago

To a point what is ethical can depend on the circumstances. In a tribal society with limited scientific or social structures to support investigations, and appropriate legal and justice system might look appalling from our point of view but be the best they can support. However if you do have the technical and cultural resources to support a professional police force, crime labs, judicial process etc, saying that keeping the tribal justice system is ok because culture is relative becomes unsupportable IMHO. In modern developed society it should never be the case that a person's best economic choice is to sell their health and life for money. It's just not necessary for people to be in that position unless someone wants them to be in that position. Why would anyone want that? What's the motivation for crating those conditions, and if people do want to put people in that position, how can the rest of us trust that the safeguards someone who would want that would put in place are sufficient and robust?