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Moral question: Being objective and moral has lead to amazing amounts of peace, cooperation, and prosperity. But I always think about an example that seems to
by chmod600 5y ago
Moral question:
Being objective and moral has lead to amazing amounts of peace, cooperation, and prosperity. But I always think about an example that seems to say you can be too objective and maybe too moral:
Let's say a wolf is hungry and wants to eat you. Your options are (1) let it eat you; (2) run away to safety; or (3) shoot the wolf. No matter what, something will die. Either you die, another prey animal dies, or the wold dies (of starvation or being shot).
Being too objective means you will be the one that dies, because you can't find a reason to take an action like shooting the wolf or running away.
I have a hard time getting past this example when it comes to questions of war and morality. If there is little cost to you, of course it's easy to make the moral choice and avoid needless deaths of your enemies. But if the cost starts to become significant (e.g. protracted bloody war), then you need to make the choice that's right for you and your allies. Right?
- totetsu 5y agoThe example you give of the hungry wolf, and the use of fire bombing on civilian cities are not equivalent moral problems, because one is much more complicated than the other.