11–20 of 65 posts
Thanks. There was a thread on HN yesterday about the benefits of a college education. There was a subthread arguing that without going to a formal college process of study of topics such as ethics and philosophy, a person could not hope to become a moral person, and therefore, the implication goes, college is not only necessary but fundamental to a moral society, and also obviously graduates are more moral and ethica…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What everyone in this discussion seems to be missing is that the number one source of moral failures is not trying. The inborn human conscience provides so much ignored guidance that trying to help it out with books is pointless. Instead, we need to be thinking about how to get people to put some effort and sacrifice into having morals. It doesn't matter if you know one ethical truth or ten billion if you are not wil…
Empathy is not inborn, it is taught. Ask anyone with a toddler. Also people must be taught to broaden their circle of empathy to include foreigners, animals, etc. The capacity may be innate but it must be shaped by education, formal or otherwise.
I remember when I was a kid, around 6, I was out hiking with my dog and had gotten on top of this huge boulder and fell off. I fell pretty far, got scraped up bad, probably a concussion and I was laying on the ground moaning. My dog scampered down and he started whimpering and licking my face. He then ran a couple miles to get help, which he brought back.
Cats though don't do this sort of thing.
Thanks. There was a thread on HN yesterday about the benefits of a college education. There was a subthread arguing that without going to a formal college process of study of topics such as ethics and philosophy, a person could not hope to become a moral person, and therefore, the implication goes, college is not only necessary but fundamental to a moral society, and also obviously graduates are more moral and ethica…
It's like with the government - people are greedy and corrupt so we have to elect greedy and corrupt people to keep things under control.
But this doesn't mean ethical philosophy is useless. We might have a pretty good innate sense of what we ought to do on a day-to-day basis as individuals, but there are lots more complex situations---in politics, in business, in science (bioethics, e.g.)---where our innate sense of right and wrong leads us to conflicting judgments or might mislead us altogether. Those situations are where we need professionals. Not in asking whether we ought to steal candy from babies or cheat on our spouses.
(Bias/credibility check: credentialed political theorist, has been paid to help companies figure out ethical things.)