4 ms·
I would never judge someone for valuing themselves or someone they care about over someone they don't, ethically that's fine in my books. In many cases though i
by ninjanomnom 4y ago
I would never judge someone for valuing themselves or someone they care about over someone they don't, ethically that's fine in my books. In many cases though it's not beneficial for society for people to act this way and this is why we have some laws whose purpose is basically to break prisoner's dilemmas.
To put it another way, if you don't have reason to believe someone would collaborate in a prisoner's dilemma I would not say you are morally obligated to collaborate. You should and you are a better person for doing so, but it is not unethical to make the selfish choice in my opinion.
- themitigating 4y agoIt's not unethical to be selfish huh and in your book it's ethical. Your sole justification for this is that you can't be sure the other person would collaborate. Doesn't that mean you would only help people if you got something in return?
- ninjanomnom 4y agoAsking what I would do and what is ethical will give you different answers in many cases. I'm not saying you should be selfish, simply that it is not immoral. If the only choice you are allowed to make to be a moral person is to take the most altruistic path then nearly every person on earth is immoral since they aren't using everything spare at hand to save people who are starving or dying of cold, etc.
- kadoban 4y agoMoral questions go beyond selfish or not, to the point that I'm not sure it's even a useful categorization. Killing anyone who slightly inconveniences me is selfish, and so is keeping my last dollar instead of giving it to the poor, but those two have vastly different moral implications under and system of morality that's any good.