(January 25, 2018 at 1:08 pm)wallym Wrote:(January 25, 2018 at 12:38 pm)FatAndFaithless Wrote: I certainly think that people can be heavily influenced by their circumstances. The examples he gives sure illustrate that. I just don't think we're defined by them. Otherwise literally nothing would have ever changed for the better. There would be no hope for progress or improvement or advancement. And I think we can all agree that humanity has advanced since the first step of our species.
Progress/improvement/advancement is a product of self-interest. Both on the personal level, and on the societal level. It is not a moral thing. For example, slavery was progress at one time. People were trying to do the work themselves, and they thought "This is hard and not working great." And then someone came up with slavery. And everybody was all "This is fucking amazing! We should have owned another group of people a long time ago!" Slavery was a very important step in the advancement of society.
But how do you explain the fact that there was still a need to justify it morally?
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
-walsh
