I think it’s part of that adage “the truth hurts”, which isn’t always true.
But I guess certainty is what sells books while murky and skepticism don’t.
No, that’s the problem with moral relativism. A view you seem to eagerly embrace.
As with most things, it depends on the application of truth. It’s not wrong to tell a white lie in many instances to spare someone pain or to protect them. In other instances, it’s best to provide someone with the unvarnished truth in order to keep them from hurting themselves in the short/long run.
It’s important to know which to do and when to do it.
Not necessarily. Some people want the simple easy solutions. Others understand that most things in life are complicated and thus have a complicated answer, or perhaps no answer at all. Some are skeptical about a single answer that applies to everyone, while others are downright nihilistic. Different books for different audiences. Whatever someone is selling, there’s someone else buying.
At least he’s not opening up multiple pointless threads to demonstrate it to the masses.
Sometimes I wonder how true nihilism really is and the emptiness of existence. Considering that much of human life is “constructed” in that meaning and significance are given and inherited.
Some forms of nihilism go beyond that claiming to see truth through the unlearning of all false knowledge. Though that sound suspect to me
I honestly do not care what you believe or what you do. If you take your mental masturbation as an excuse to hurt or even inconvenience another person then we have a problem.
I’m not saying I would, but it asked to justify why I do so would amount to me saying it was something passed down to me.
Okay, this just took a dark and disturbing turn.
In light of recent and recurring events, if you’re thinking of hurting someone and using “something passed down to me” as an excuse for doing so, you should tell someone who is in a position to help you deal with that before you actually do something that irrevocably damages innocent people’s lives.
“just” - ?
The stakes that Machinaforce is playing for in posting these circular and repetitive threads have long been a source of ??? to many folks. He is always walking that line between attempting to look like a legit debate and “WTF is *really *going on here?!”
Machinaforce, to be clear: you’re freakin’ us out a bit. You see this?
Why on earth would something become justified because it was passed down?
If you see me doing something stupid, and you ask me why I keep doing it, would you prepare to sneer if I said it was just something I came up with — but then assure me that I’ve made the right choice, if I reply that it was passed down?
Can I, as it were, pass you some advice? Will you embrace it, if it’s so passed?
In the sense that there is no Objective morality, just what we decide is right. But when you boil it down it amounts to little more than “i say so”.
The same with social constructs and how some might regard them as “lies”.
Why would that give extra punch to something if it’s passed down to you?
If you start by figuring there’s no objective morality, then why grant any deference to stuff that’s been passed down to you — as opposed to stuff that dawned on you in the moment, or stuff that I’ll mention to you once it occurs to me? Your reason isn’t, I’m guessing, objective morality; so what is it?
Maybe in the most abstract. If used to justify hurting others in real life, it’s a moral failing and an indefensible evil.