(September 10, 2011 at 7:21 pm)StatCrux Wrote: So, please correct me if I misunderstand, but your basis for moral action is the degree of sensual or communal pleasure derived from following the moral guidelines? If it makes people generally happy then it is morally just? Am I correct?
Not quite, stat #2. I would use the word universal, rather than communal. Nearly all human beings experience pain when beaten. Not just humans in a specific community. Pain creates a negative reaction for most. In other words, it is unpleasant. Therefore, it is wrong to induce pain on purpose or pain that is not necessary for a positive outcome to a negative situation. That is true anywhere, of anyone. That pain showing that you are hurt and that hurt is bad does not come from a book. It is a fact. It is visceral, not transcendental.
Communal pleasure has nothing to do with it. It's not about "everyone is doing it. It makes us more happy when everyone does it this way." Even if a scant few people cared to do things that created more positive intellectual and physical reactions, I would still find it morally correct to do so. My morality is based on how what I do makes people feel personally, not as a group. I don't hurt a person because it would hurt them, not because society would be more pleased with me if I didn't hurt them. So you see, communal pleasure is not a part of the equation.
