Treggie has bought into the ethical philosophy called altruism, the belief it is our moral duty to serve others. Tina is right to question it, having identified part of the contradiction of altruism.
Another part is the never-answered question of why are all the good things in life good for others but immoral when you want them for yourself?
The main reason for America’s historic freedom and prosperity was the fact that we never totally bought into altruism. After all, it’s YOUR life, YOUR liberty, and the pursuit of YOUR happiness we were founded on, not someone else’s.
But we didn’t reject altruism explicitly, as we still tell children to share their toys, we make the high school kids “volunteer” or not graduate, we are supposed to admire the likes of Mother Teresa, we decry the “greed” of honest businessmen seeking profit, we are expected to pay our taxes to support the bottomless welfare state, and so on until the altruists’ goal is achieved: everyone is morally obligated to everyone else for everything in their lives.
Keep that in mind when deciding what you think about “healthcare reform”.
grapfhics about 15 years ago
just wait, your turn will come.
pschearer Premium Member about 15 years ago
Treggie has bought into the ethical philosophy called altruism, the belief it is our moral duty to serve others. Tina is right to question it, having identified part of the contradiction of altruism.
Another part is the never-answered question of why are all the good things in life good for others but immoral when you want them for yourself?
The main reason for America’s historic freedom and prosperity was the fact that we never totally bought into altruism. After all, it’s YOUR life, YOUR liberty, and the pursuit of YOUR happiness we were founded on, not someone else’s.
But we didn’t reject altruism explicitly, as we still tell children to share their toys, we make the high school kids “volunteer” or not graduate, we are supposed to admire the likes of Mother Teresa, we decry the “greed” of honest businessmen seeking profit, we are expected to pay our taxes to support the bottomless welfare state, and so on until the altruists’ goal is achieved: everyone is morally obligated to everyone else for everything in their lives.
Keep that in mind when deciding what you think about “healthcare reform”.