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02-28-2005, 02:09 PM

OK, it's not a small issue - and I'm not sure I'm ready to lay any of my own personal theories in this regard just yet - but what I'm interested in is whether it is possible to agree a system of ethics that can be universally acceptable without any of the dilemmas that we get when you look closely enough at current ethical systems.

As an example, I particularly like a story about a devout Catholic who wanted to sleep with his wife, but who didn't want any more children. He'd been told by his Priest that even to practice the withdrawl method was a sin UNLESS it happened by accident (truely coitus interruptus). So the man got his butler to stand outside his bedroom door and, at the moment when he believed that his master and wife were at the peak of their excitement, he was to burst into the room, thus allowing the man to withdraw from his wife and not commit an act of fornication.

There are of course more pressing dilemmas, such as life/choice, war/diplomacy, privacy/freedom of speech etc. In a complicated world, is it possible to develop a truely workable system of ethics? If so, how do we start? If not, what do we try and make do with?

02-28-2005, 02:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
zen_tom Guest	Universally Acceptable Ethics: Possible? OK, it's not a small issue - and I'm not sure I'm ready to lay any of my own personal theories in this regard just yet - but what I'm interested in is whether it is possible to agree a system of ethics that can be universally acceptable without any of the dilemmas that we get when you look closely enough at current ethical systems. As an example, I particularly like a story about a devout Catholic who wanted to sleep with his wife, but who didn't want any more children. He'd been told by his Priest that even to practice the withdrawl method was a sin UNLESS it happened by accident (truely coitus interruptus). So the man got his butler to stand outside his bedroom door and, at the moment when he believed that his master and wife were at the peak of their excitement, he was to burst into the room, thus allowing the man to withdraw from his wife and not commit an act of fornication. There are of course more pressing dilemmas, such as life/choice, war/diplomacy, privacy/freedom of speech etc. In a complicated world, is it possible to develop a truely workable system of ethics? If so, how do we start? If not, what do we try and make do with?