(December 27, 2010 at 4:57 am)Kromoh Wrote: I believe there are only two coherent views on Morality:
1) Basing on empathy. There is no more reason for me to care about myself than there is to care about others. I must do to others that which I think be beneficial for them, and expect the same in return. We must cooperate if we desire to form a fruitful society.
2) Basing on apathy. There is no reason to care about others, but to the others, I'm an 'other' - thus there is no reason to care about myself either. Humans, along with other animals, myself included, are just a bunch of self-replicating matter. Emotions are just instincts programmed on the brain. Morality matters not - just as breathing matters not.
I've been tending to the second one lately.
I also think that caring about oneself and not about others is frequent in humans due to how human instincts work, but if taken rationaly, that view is not coherent.
Not sure I understand your argument.
My position: The base of all morality is self interest,which is instinctive, not rational. The basis is pragmatism. Yes, emotions are a- rational,either instinctive,or in specific cases,a conditioned reflex.
As a philosophical position this is called "Egoism" divided into ethical and rational egoism together with psychological egoism.
The Wiki articles linked below are worth a glance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egoism
