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Date: March 05, 2023
“Introduction to Ethics This is a lecture about an argument for the following claim: giving money to charity to not merely a good thing to do, but is *morally obligatory*. According to Peter Singer, who wrote this paper in 1972, spending money on luxuries is morally bad–it is evil. Many parts of this lecture draw heavily on a lecture on this topic that my teacher, Niko Kolodny, used to give (and perhaps still gives) as part of an undergraduate course at UC Berkeley.” It’s not exactly the ant colony model…but it’s something relatively close to it…Meaning, the well being of the group [species, in this case] is a prime objective, superseding any right to personal excess…It’s a very socialist and laudable concept… Of course…ants will sacrifice themselves [as in die] for the benefit of the colony…Which is a step farther than what is being discussed here. Speaking of the designated “bad” things…I am wondering where we come down, when the competition is between death and suffering…I’m not convinced the natural process of death is a bad thing…not in and of itself… Some people live so long, that daily life becomes a massive struggle they want a release from…It is logical that some welcome and seek death. As to disease, deformity, permanent injury, etc…what level of suffering makes it worse than death?…and who decides? “Suffering”…what types of suffering are included in all of this?…Are there any that would not be seen as bad, and hence would not be fought against? There are many forms of suffering, some even institutionalized in culture…I would question whether a true resolve to “end suffering” honestly exists. Final thought… …Is it immoral to get yourself something of excess, which falls beyond meeting your own basic needs [food, shelter, clothing, heat, safety], when somebody else has a greater need, for the resources that went into getting that something?…What if their basic needs are not met?… …Where does something even become “excess”?…and who decides on that?…This is normally dictated by culture, and needs based on where you live. If you spent time from your own life, working hard to gather those resources…is it wrong to introduce something new into your life, to stimulate and mix things up a bit?…Are you not allowed your own, personal joys?… …When does it become bad, even immoral, to allow yourself to stagnate, and lose your own zest for life? I’m not sure I’ve argued against the concept presented…and it wasn’t really my intent to argue against it…I just do not see it as being simple…and pure logic can lead us to not entirely fair conclusions. Okay…just one actually final thought… …I’ve often found myself exacerbated over the fact, that cultural expectations and geography shoehorn nearly all of us into having to purchase and maintain expensive vehicles, just to function and survive…This just being one example, of how I dislike the way that we are all set up to be exploited and milked for profit…when a lot of us would like to use our resources elsewhere…We would benefit greatly, if we could remove this endless expense from our lives. === |
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Peter Singer – ordinary people are evil…
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