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wilbjammin · 11-19-2003, 09:18 PM

If morals are anything but internal, then why do you have them?

It doesn't matter where you got your morals from, but please have some good reasoning behind why you have them.

Rights, as defined by Thomas Hobbes and Hugo Grotius (who's influence we find in the first 10 Amendments to the US Constitution) were not like "rights" are today. Rights used to be seen freedoms <i>to</i> not freedoms <i>from</i>. In this sense, it seems perfectly clear to me that Hobbes and Grotius were right... Rights granted in the Constitution are simply institutionalized protections, not natural protections.

We can do anything we want if we're willing to face the consequences. It becomes a question of cost/benefit. I could never rely on external systems of meaning to tell me what matters to me, but I could rely on myself not willing to put myself at odds with consequences that I didn't want to face... Are there rules (laws) I'd break because I think it is worth it? Possibly, if I ever get put in that situation I won't feel any guilt, because I didn't make the laws, I don't have any ownership of them. I only have ownership of myself. If this reminds you of Thoreau or MLK Jr. I wouldn't be surprised... but not all choices have to be so monumental even in this regard.

I guess that I've avoided point-blankly answering the question, so here's my answer: follow your morals, and I hope for everyone's sake that they're well-founded thoughtful morals.

11-19-2003, 09:18 PM	#6 (permalink)
wilbjammin * * *	If morals are anything but internal, then why do you have them? It doesn't matter where you got your morals from, but please have some good reasoning behind why you have them. Rights, as defined by Thomas Hobbes and Hugo Grotius (who's influence we find in the first 10 Amendments to the US Constitution) were not like "rights" are today. Rights used to be seen freedoms <i>to</i> not freedoms <i>from</i>. In this sense, it seems perfectly clear to me that Hobbes and Grotius were right... Rights granted in the Constitution are simply institutionalized protections, not natural protections. We can do anything we want if we're willing to face the consequences. It becomes a question of cost/benefit. I could never rely on external systems of meaning to tell me what matters to me, but I could rely on myself not willing to put myself at odds with consequences that I didn't want to face... Are there rules (laws) I'd break because I think it is worth it? Possibly, if I ever get put in that situation I won't feel any guilt, because I didn't make the laws, I don't have any ownership of them. I only have ownership of myself. If this reminds you of Thoreau or MLK Jr. I wouldn't be surprised... but not all choices have to be so monumental even in this regard. I guess that I've avoided point-blankly answering the question, so here's my answer: follow your morals, and I hope for everyone's sake that they're well-founded thoughtful morals. __________________ Innominate.