(July 23, 2015 at 10:10 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: Do you mean that you believe you can pick it all up? I certainly would not jump to the conclusion that you believed that, if I saw you picking up some garbage. I would not suppose that someone must believe such a thing in order to pick up some garbage.I think we're not on the same page. With the idea that humans should be killed in order to protect the environment, I'd say that this idea can be founded in sufficient evidence-- it's fairly clear that humans do great harm to nature, but not clear that we have the capacity or the will to do great good for nature.
Now, it's not all-or nothing. If you killed say 2/3 of the people on Earth, you'd reduce crowding and probably reduce human impact on the world. So you don't need the belief that you CAN kill all people in order, only the willingness to try. The belief is just that there should be less people.
Quote:I don't agree with that. If someone picks up some litter, they make the world a slightly better place. That is enough. When I return money to a cashier due to the cashier giving me too much change, I have no delusions about everyone else doing the same. Of course, I know many others will do the same, but not everyone will. My action is based on the idea that I feel it is right. It is not based on any expectations of what others will do. I would generally expect that those who pick up garbage likewise do so because they feel it is right, but I would not attribute to them the ridiculous idea that they believed that everyone else will do likewise. That is, not unless I had some reason to do so.Should you act as people do, or as they might do? It doesn't matter whether people act like me. What matters is that I act as I feel people should. I might pick up the garbage because the archetypal Perfect Man would, in my opinion, pick up the garbage. IF others also did it, the world would be better, so I do it, though I know few others, in actuality, will.
