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I humbly suggest that ethics are not universal but heavily culturally dependent.
by dyauspitr 3y ago
I humbly suggest that ethics are not universal but heavily culturally dependent.
- tomcar288 3y agoabsolutely. it's a matter of perspective. thinking that you and only you have the "moral" high road, just leads to oppression. good and bad are relative to who's making the judgement
- rayiner 3y agoThat’s true. And how the Saudis choose to run their society is none of America’s business. The feeling that America is intruding into their societies is in fact a huge source of anger in the Muslim world. But nothing about the principle that societies are entitled to decide for themselves how to govern themselves requires people in America to accept Americans doing business with other people who have very different values. That’s a completely different matter.
- dyauspitr 3y agoThat would be fine if we didn’t selectively pick which countries we apply those rules to. China is an ethical nightmare but we have and continue to do business with them, why change that when it comes to the Middle East.
- smallmancontrov 3y agoWhat makes you think people who disapprove of getting in bed with the Middle East approve of getting in bed with China? Did you ask them? Or did you want so badly to accuse them of hypocrisy that you simply assumed it to be the case?
- gklitz 3y agoThere aren’t any people left in business in the US who don’t approve of “getting in bed with china” - this message was made in china, like your shirt, your shorts, your socks, and so on snd so on.
- bennyhill 3y agoThere's no people who deny travel reimbursements that use Saudi gas.. Does that mean we all need to fly to Saudi Arabia to plan future businesses and garrison death squads in our houses? I think there's a difference between doing the minimum that is not a disadvantage and making a relationship with an ethical discount country your competitive advantage.
- addicted 2y agoThe U.S. has done far more business for far longer with countries in the Middle East than it has with China. I don’t think your example supports the point you think you’re making.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- CommanderData 3y agoIt is HNs business to speak about middle eastern countries except for speaking about Israel, it's suddenly very political and no longer HN worthy.
- yostrovs 3y agoExcept we have regular posts related to Israel with hundreds of comments in each.
- badpun 3y ago> And how the Saudis choose to run their society is none of America’s business. By "the Saudis" you mean the ruling family? Those are the only people who are deciding anything in SA.
- Log_out_ 3y agoAnd if a societal model causes catastrophe and collapse it contains that failure? If it wastes human potential and is a free loader compared to free societies? What then?
- Balgair 3y agoI mean, Plato may have a word (or a few thousand) about that idea.
- scaredginger 3y agoYou don't make many friends being a moral relativist
- eunos 3y agoIt seems that the "Global South" much prefer moral relativist than moral purists that cant stop lecturing others
- corimaith 3y agoThe vast majority of philosophers don't believe in moral relativism. It's actually usually the amateurs early mistake and you can read alot of the critique of it easily online.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- TexanFeller 3y agoI wouldn't trust most philosophers' judgment on the matter at all unless they were also deeply familiar with evolutionary biology and game theory. I suspect most of them are not. I'd much prefer Richard Dawkins' opinion on the matter.
- dyauspitr 3y agoBut philosophers from where?
- gklitz 3y agoThe vast majority of philosophers believed that men were superior to woman and that those of lighter skin were superior to those of darker skin and in general that philosophers were superior to anyone who was not a philosopher. They either didn’t spend time debating this because they all agreed, or in cases where they did, their arguments are not hovered in teaching material because we “want to focus on the pats that are actually true”.
- badpun 3y ago> The vast majority of philosophers believed that (...) those of lighter skin were superior to those of darker skin Source? We don't know the actual skin tone of Ancient philosophers, but it's likely that Greek and Roman philosophers (many of which were born in and lived in Middle East or Africa) were of darker skin than the Germanic barbarians, whom they considered inferior.
- data_maan 3y agoShow me culturally dependent beheading please
- archagon 3y agoI would argue that beheading is a more merciful execution than the electric chair or lethal injection.
- Pidaymou 3y agoJustifying the beheading done there is just evil. By Sharia if you're just an apostate or kafir paying jijiya who has done some miniscule mistake which might include affecting the feeling of an Imandar(i.e Muslims). Now anyone can be a kafir because the definition of being a muslim is extremely vague in Quran and hadiths, so that's why you see violence between shia, sunni, ahmediya and all others. Even different factions between Sunnis.
- archagon 3y agoI'm not defending capital punishment in the Middle East, but pushing against the "culturally dependent beheading" quip.
- shotnothing 2y agohow?
- archagon 2y agoThe electric chair and lethal injection have both resulted in torturous, prolonged deaths for some victims. If beheading is done correctly, you essentially die right away.
- data_maan 2y agoI would argue that the masses of people that flock to see the beheading also result in some stress towards the victim. But the fact that it is not a clean room beheading but a public one culturally dependent too ... If we argue which type of death is more or less pleasant we've directly descended into not just the Middle East, but the Middle Ages.
- FerretFred 3y agoReading that article I'd say that ethics are easily displaced by money. No surprise there though, sadly.