(May 27, 2015 at 3:32 pm)SteelCurtain Wrote: I think that's binary thinking. There is grey area. Maybe we aren't as concerned with the wellbeing of those we don't know as we are with our own or our family's. I do care about the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram. I can't feasibly do anything about it without jeopardizing my own wellbeing or my ability to support myself. So there is a subconscious choice there that I make. I do care about shitty working conditions in Chinese sweatshops. So I don't purchase the iPhone that was built there, because that's all I can do. I choose my own selfish desires over those less fortunate than me every time I buy a steak instead of Ramen or beer instead of drinking tap water. The money could have gone somewhere else and my hunger would have been eased and my thirst quenched just the same.
This speaks to another level of the absence of objectivity in morality. It is clearly better for more if I were to forgo the steak and give that extra $15 that I spent on it and the accompanying potato and asparagus, and give that money to an African charity instead so I could affect someone else's life positively. But I get pleasure from that steak and potato. I get pleasure from the beer. And that's okay. Another example is the amount of time I spend here. I could be volunteering for Habitat for Humanity or spending extra time at the shelter helping to match people up with dogs. But this place brings me happiness. Which is good for me.
This is fair. The key point I'm making is that Me > Not me for a vast majority of not me's.
