8SFY06 t1_j465zov wrote
Reply to comment by IAI_Admin in Life can’t be reduced to a rulebook. But committing to certain moral principles can help us navigate life better. by IAI_Admin
One can't condensate it all as to "do no harm". Inaction can also cause harm.
Also, using the trolley dilemma example for the sake of the argument, it isn't there to give you a definitive solution to a problem as old as time. It is there to prove a point, it being: it depends.
Laws (as a set of rules to follow in society in comparison to our personal moral values) are more effective in some places than others, for example, because of a plethora of reasons and not just because of how they were written or how they are enforced, but it also doesn't mean that we shouldn't create them and follow them.
It is tiring to seek these answers and try to apply them to our personal lives because most of us have the "efficient market utilitarian" based approach to suffering, in which we avoid it at all costs while externalizing the labor of it somewhere else without considering the consequences. Point being, as presented by Zizek, paying Starbucks a few cents per cup to fight global warming. As things are, you can't avoid harm. It has to go somewhere.
CoweringCowboy t1_j47faa2 wrote
In the words of the wise Geddy Lee - if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
Count-Rarian t1_j47titt wrote
I like to stall on questions from friends by saying it all depends on what I decide.
goes231even t1_j488jn6 wrote
I see Rush lyrics and it's an automatic upvote
RIP Neil
undivided-assUmption t1_j49i7r0 wrote
I completely agree. I kant believe that people think moral absolutism is still relevant in our globally connected world. The only moral principle I can think of that's universal is that one must consciously choose to be happy in a sad world. I like your take on utilitarianism. It's just a regurgitated take on life's lesser of two evils game, huh? It's as if people aren't forced to read Homer in school anymore. Damn, I hate STEM education.
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