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How do you enforce a moral responsibility?

• IgorPartola 16y ago
  That question has no meaning. Morality is not something you can enforce. Morality is a strictly personal matter, and anyone that tells you that you have a moral responsibility to do something is confused. Nobody can tell you what your moral responsibilities are other than yourself. In this light, the parent post is right. "You might have a moral responsibility" implies that you may feel compelled to do something. The frequent misinterpretation is that you have a responsibility to someone else, which is false. If you feel compelled to carry on a job you hate to save lives, you have a moral responsibility. If you do not feel so compelled, you do not have a moral responsibility. You cannot have a moral responsibility without feeling compelled.
  • roel_v 16y ago
    "Morality is a strictly personal matter," Oh this is very much a contested position (known as 'objective' vs 'relative' morality). If I feel that murdering people with red hair is morally neutral, or positive even, is it so? I posit that it's not - murder is objectively morally wrong, no matter the ideas or feeling of being compelled of anyone. To phrase it in your terms, I think everybody has a moral responsibility not to murder people, even if they feel compelled to do so.
    • IgorPartola 16y ago
      Definitely contested. I believe that relative morality is the best we can really hope for, but I know that many disagree.