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Originally Posted by Ourcrazymodern?
Can one exist everywhere? I suggest you abandon your isms for as long as you can stand & look in a mirror. Then re-read this thread.
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Having some location is something different from existing or not existing. Something either exists, or it doesn't. That something can be located somewhere, but that isn't the same thing as whether or not it exists.
You might state that something cannot exist without occupying some portion of space, but space is a part of a reality. Something can still exist in a universe in which there is no concept of space.
I arrived at Utilitarianism after some very long consideration and deep introspection; it was not a conclusion I came to on accident or lightly. I'm quite willing to reconsider it if presented a proper argument, but it's not something I can simply set aside.
I've looked at myself in mirrors quite a few times, both literally and metaphorically.
What is the question?
"What
should we do?" is the question. The posted document is a possible answer being presented for consideration.
I'm quite aware that I'm not perfect, that my view is filtered and limited and not perfect knowledge. That's why I posted it for discussion. Other people would approach the problem differently, and perhaps see flaws or inconsistencies that I wasn't aware of; perhaps even flaws so terrible as to reject the fundamental basis of the approach.
---------- Post added at 06:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:23 PM ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Orogun01
We can't be certain but it's the first reality of which we are cognitive of. Therefore it's the one by which we judge the value of all other, an escapism of sorts.
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Perhaps. Personally, I believe this is the true reality, but I am unwilling to rest a moral theory upon the infallibility of my senses, since my senses are fallible.
Quote:
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There is always an element of unpredictability and undesirability to each reality. Because of physical limitations that a subject may have the consequences of each action are highly unpredictable. Even a program will have an element of deviation from the set norms, an unexpected behavior. While not observable by the spectators such deviations may have an unintended, consequential value. Despite not being generally useful to the spectator whom has no idea of the change.
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While the potential long-term outcomes are highly unpredictable, short-term outcomes are much more predictable. Long-term outcomes themselves are made of collections of short-term outcomes over time.
Consider cutting off a man's leg with an ax. You do not know that in his specific situation, cutting off his leg will not cause a chain of events that leads to him enjoying life greatly. You do know, from observation, that losing one's limbs tends to be a frightful experience with negative long-term consequences, one which is not yet apparently reversible. Maybe he'll win the lottery, maybe he'll swear revenge on your life, but probably, it will be a negative overall action.
Either way, with good enough models, acting to create a desirable short-term outcome is preferred to paralysis.
Remember that in certain consequentialist ethical theories, the "goodness" of an action is a continuum.