View Single Post
Old 09-19-2005, 06:52 PM   #20 (permalink)
asaris
Mad Philosopher
 
asaris's Avatar
 
Location: Washington, DC
There's a difference between what is best for us, as a society, to allow, and what constitutes the best form of life. It seems to me to be pretty clear that, as far as we know, the best form of society is the one that allows for maximal choice as to forms of life. The value of most forms of life derives in part from our own endorsement of that form of life, and allowing maximal choice strengthens our own endorsement of the form of life we have chosen. The more we know about alternate options, the more our choice of form of life is our choice, and not merely something forced upon us.

The reason I say "maximal choice" rather than "unfettered choice" is because some forms of life are in fact incompatible with other forms of life. This is why we say that "my right to swing my arm ends at your nose". I'm allowed to choose my own form of life, but only to the extent that my choice of a form of life does not interfere with yours. Obviously, it's a lot more complicated than this, but I trust you get the idea.

The difference between this and personal morality is this. The statement that society ought to allow for maximal choice regarding forms of life does not entail that one of these forms of life is not in fact the best. Even given the standpoint I outlined above, one can still say that there are better and worse forms of life, or even that there is a best form of life. I happen to believe that there is a best form of life. I also happen to believe that most people believe that there is a best form of life. Every time someone says something along the lines of "You need to be more tolerant" or "Science has disproved God" or "You need to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour", they're endorsing one form of life over another. And there nothing wrong with that, as long as we merely seek to encourage people to join our form of life, rather than seeking to impose it on people.
__________________
"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."

"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."

-- Friedrich Nietzsche
asaris is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360