RE: Soldiers life threatened by his own side.
June 11, 2012 at 12:05 am
(This post was last modified: June 11, 2012 at 12:08 am by Angrboda.)
(June 10, 2012 at 4:45 pm)liam Wrote:Quote:What I call "right" is short hand for "the correct action to perform to maximize happiness and minimize suffering for the most people possible". My definition of "right" is not to be confused with desirable circumstances.
However, I would disagree with this definition of right, from whence the entire disagreement stems. I would argue that the rightness of an action comes from the rights of a human and so the outcomes hold no sway to me. I would not condone the murder of anyone as it is a violation to their autonomy as well as their natural moral right not to be murdered.
What is a right? What property of matter imbues a certain collection of matter, say a human, with rights, and not an almost identical collection of matter, say a recently deceased corpse? Why does a man have rights that a cow does not? What is different about the matter forming a man and that forming a cow? Why don't mosquitoes have rights? Why do I have the right to use my property, even if microbes and worms are killed or inconvenienced as a result? Is it immoral for me to sneeze, knowing that bacteria will be expelled from a hospitable environment, where they might thrive, into an inhospitable one where they most surely will die?
No offense, but your moral theories appear to be largely ipse dixit.