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2004-03-09 20:00:07 #virus from 2004-03-09 20:00:00 (showing messages 1-30) Bookmark the permanent url.
20:00:07Lucifertime to chat
20:00:20LuciferTonight's topic is "When does the end justify the means?"
20:00:44LuciferI've been wrestling with this quite a bit recently
20:01:22prometheusSpecific case or general concept?
20:01:44LuciferIf we can come up with a general solution to this question I will be amazed
20:02:09LuciferOf course we could theoretically assert the answer is "never"
20:02:39LuciferMaybe we could start with that
20:02:50LuciferAssume the answer is never, now does that work?
20:03:10LuciferCan you come up with an example where that would lead you morally astray?
20:03:44prometheusIf the means is killing one person to save one thousand?
20:04:26localrogerIt depends firstly on how rigid the moral principles are which you'd be violating.
20:05:05LuciferCan that be measured?
20:05:09localrogerIf your moral principle is that killing is always wrong, the "killing one to save a thousand" is a difficult choice.
20:05:33LuciferAgreed, but does that mean that the moral principle is flawed?
20:05:50localrogerMuch of the difficulty comes from absolute moral precepts -- killing is always wrong, censorship is always wrong, abortion is always wrong, sex for means other than procreation is always wrong, etc.
20:06:08rhino

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20:06:08ChanServ

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20:06:32localrogerMuch of the problem magically vanishes if we simply accept that moral absolutes are unreasonable. This, of course, introduces a large barrel of other worms.
20:06:42LuciferDo you think that there will always be a theoretical case where the end justifies breaking any given absolute moral principle?
20:07:15Ophis

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20:07:16LuciferIt is the large barrel of other worms that worries me
20:07:20prometheusSo should we work from the principle that Life is good and that saving more lives outweighs saving less, then?
20:08:02LuciferWhat kind of lives?
20:08:08rhinoi think that giving an absolute meaning to the verb "justifies" is the tricky part
20:08:11TylerEmerson

TylerEmerson (~afd@[death to spam].host-64-72-54-38.classicnet.net) has joined #virus

20:08:26LuciferDo animal lives count? Are all human lives considered equal? How do you compare?
20:08:44prometheusThat is the hard part.
20:08:46TylerEmerson

TylerEmerson is now known as Guest9027463

20:08:47Ophis:-)
20:09:02Guest9027463

Guest9027463 is now known as TylerE

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