NorthOfNorth wrote on Jul 30^th, 2010 at 9:39am:


Alan Saunders. He is a Schopenhauerian in this. Schopenhauer declared that the true basis of morality is compassion or sympathy. (A much simpler formulation than Saunders's)

BUT.

The Royal Danish Society of Scientific Studies ran an essay competition in 1837: "Are the source and foundation of morals to be looked for in an idea of morality lying immediately in consciousness (or conscience) and in the analysis of other fundamental moral concepts springing from that idea, or are they to be looked for in a different ground of knowledge?". The only entry submitted was by Schoenhauer. He didn't win. The Danes said he misunderstood the question. Very smacking unsympathetic, what? No wonder Schopenhauer became big on pessimism.

Let me give an example:

It is immoral to use an illegal copy of Windows 7 on your computer, but it is perfectly moral for Microsoft to charge an outrageous sum of
money for an operating system that exposes your computer to viruses by virtue of its design.

Does the exercise of morality necessary require choice?

Was Kurt Gerstein wrong to join the SS in an attempt to minimise the suffering of Jews during the holocaust and to ensure he could bear witness to the atrocities of the Third Reich?

Was he wrong to advocate the use of Zyklon-B over Carbon Monoxide to reduce the suffering of those about to be murdered?

Should he have chosen to resist the Nazis by protesting, even if his protestations would have had no effect and would have led to his own murder?

Were Gerstein's options chosen moral?

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Given Australia's history as Britain's island prison, is it moral for Australians to advocate the use of a far flung island to process "illegals"?

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Would it be immoral for the German government to confine their "illegals" to ghettos?

Dnarever wrote on Jul 31^st, 2010 at 11:38am:

I agree, hence the quotes...

One step towards their definition and vilification as Untermenschen.

Been a while since I had to look up two words in the same paragraph, I had no idea what she was on about.


Immanence, derived from the Latin in manere - "to remain within" - refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence,

Epistemology (from Greek) theory of knowledge

Morals are judgments that we see as being right in this world.

Sometimes that judgment may be in sympathy with the general populace, sometimes not.
The judgment may cost us, in our freedom, financially or socially, but our moral sense says "This is the right thing to do"

of your fllow citizens are d@1ckheads.

NorthOfNorth wrote on Jul 31^st, 2010 at 11:44pm:



Asylum is a political idea, and then only in the context of protection from a political regime that denies freedom.

If stealing a loaf of bread is a political act, then asylum is to be granted. If the bread is stoln to be sold on the black market for twice the price, then it's not a political but a criminal act and so no protection is warranted.

Also, a regime that criminalises ordinary human behaviour is oppressive of its people and those oppressed by it deserve protection.

But you can't claim to be seeking asylum if your country has free elections but you think 95% of your countrymen are complete pr!cks and are out to destroy you just because they don't believe that you have the right to sell stolen bread on the black market.