RE: It's a simple choice:
December 25, 2016 at 3:22 am
(This post was last modified: December 25, 2016 at 3:35 am by The Grand Nudger.)
If the reason that you did the "right thing" was that I told you that I would beat you mercilessly if you did not, can you really claim to be moral in doing the right thing, or were you merely avoiding pain? If the reason that you did the "right thing" was that I told you I would reward you, can you really claim to be moral in doing the right thing, or were you merely seeking compensation?
In contrast, if you did the "right thing" without any threat of pain or offer of reward, could these suspicions even be raised about your motivations?
As to what materialism "makes" you want to act like, have you ever considered that might just be you? That it's not "materialism" doing that to you at all, more an issue of you scapegoating materialism rather than accepting ownership of your own desires and motivations? Materialism, after all, is simply the notion that things are made of matter...how, exactly, does that compel you to behave "more like an animal"? I'm curious, because it doesn't have that effect on me, and I'm a fairly casual materialist. When I think, to myself, "stuff seems to be made of matter"......I'm not suddenly overwhelmed by a desire to beat my neighbor over the head with a club and steal his shit....but you are, apparently. What gives?
In contrast, if you did the "right thing" without any threat of pain or offer of reward, could these suspicions even be raised about your motivations?
As to what materialism "makes" you want to act like, have you ever considered that might just be you? That it's not "materialism" doing that to you at all, more an issue of you scapegoating materialism rather than accepting ownership of your own desires and motivations? Materialism, after all, is simply the notion that things are made of matter...how, exactly, does that compel you to behave "more like an animal"? I'm curious, because it doesn't have that effect on me, and I'm a fairly casual materialist. When I think, to myself, "stuff seems to be made of matter"......I'm not suddenly overwhelmed by a desire to beat my neighbor over the head with a club and steal his shit....but you are, apparently. What gives?
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