Whats the difference between surface and base? — john27
What about moral intuitions? Not dependant on other agents. The loner could still have them couldn't he? — DingoJones
What about a utilitarian? Is there not a single utilitarian calculation that effects just the loner? — DingoJones
Ethics should be based on physical stimulus. because we are constrained by the practicality of our human shells — john27
What - about himself? Then they are preferences, and not about morality. — Banno
.and so utilitarianism fails to amount to a moral position. Fine. — Banno
The “human shells” you speak of are our bodies, within which our souls abide, and it is the latter, not the former, that ethics or morality is concerned with. — Leghorn
We are not constrained by the needs of our bodies. We frequently neglect those needs in order to effect a good greater than that dictated by “physical stimulus”. Tell me how it is “practical” that a soldier go off to war to defend his country and place his physical self in danger? Maybe he can expect, if he survives the war, to get free lunches on Veterans Day, and free hearing aids through the VA, but do you think he is calculating all this when he signs his name on the bottom line? — Leghorn
And this, I think, is the distinction b/w right- and left-wing politics in our day, whether they pertain to the body or to the soul... — Leghorn
There is no morality. There is only true behavior or false behavior. Truth is mind that is accurate to the evidence. Accurate mind create accurate behavior. — Miller
How can we assess evidence to be accurate? what was our first truth to kickstart our accurate behaviour, and how did we find that that truth was true? — john27
I guess the main question to our discussion would be to assess whether the soul is truly different from the body.
14h — john27
What about a moral agent who is entirely alone? Does he cease to be a moral agent until there are others to relate to? — DingoJones
Ethics is fundamentally about how one relates to others. — Banno
Well Banno’s point was that morality is about relations between life, precluding the logic you used there. — DingoJones
It's odd that this point should be contentious.
The things you choose to do that do not involve others are simply a question of your preference. Do as you choose. The things you choose to do that do involve others are of a different kind. It is these considerations that are the topic of ethics. — Banno
And if you are alone, what is it to flourish?
Give an example. — Banno
Ah. Eating well and exercising regularly. These are an issue of ethics?
Why ought one do so? — Banno
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