Yes I do think that you hit the nail on the head so to speak. We need to find out how to overcome this problem. I believe that the main factor is called [confirmation bias].:detective: We need to be aware of this and it needs to be discussed and taught.

... no matter what arguments you ... receive, your opinion will most likely not change.

Is it a joke to study ethics?

As the title reads, Is it a joke to study ethics? if so please explain why. be honest even if you could give a $hit less.:poke-eye:

This is someone new to me, Is anyone familiar with this person? I think that he may be a republican, What I am amazed at is that a republican would be able to shine a light on ethics as I think he can.:detective:

Ethics is a study i find absolutely useless. I'm not disagreeing or arguing with anyone on the forum. I am simpy answering the question as it is asked to be answered. Ethics seems to keep humans in a constant state of vigilance over self action. It is a type of control that restrains people from doing what they want. An example i seem to find are the Asian students that attend my school and how they seem to be very respectful to one another but it is to the point where something wrong is said and the group finds offense, going into a strange silence. According to the group, the remark was unethical and insulting to some extent. If opinionating and having control over your own actions is bad then why would we have rationality and wills? It is pointelss to me. If i want to cut up a cat in anatomy to study its organs then i'll do it. Bear Gryles doesn't seem to have a problem doing it on national television. He understands that he is an independent existence separate from the rest of humanity. If he can do it alone in the wild, why can't we do it in front of people. It seems ridiculous and seems to simply keep us in measure.

Ethics is a study i find absolutely useless. I'm not disagreeing or arguing with anyone on the forum. I am simpy answering the question as it is asked to be answered. Ethics seems to keep humans in a constant state of vigilance over self action. It is a type of control that restrains people from doing what they want. An example i seem to find are the Asian students that attend my school and how they seem to be very respectful to one another but it is to the point where something wrong is said and the group finds offense, going into a strange silence. According to the group, the remark was unethical and insulting to some extent. If opinionating and having control over your own actions is bad then why would we have rationality and wills? It is pointelss to me. If i want to cut up a cat in anatomy to study its organs then i'll do it. Bear Gryles doesn't seem to have a problem doing it on national television. He understands that he is an independent existence separate from the rest of humanity. If he can do it alone in the wild, why can't we do it in front of people. It seems ridiculous and seems to simply keep us in measure.

Noam Chomsky has been writing and publishing philosophy since the 1950's. Far from being a "Republican", he is believed by some to be an anarchist! I would not attempt to put him into any simple catagory, however. I agree with some of what he has to say and I disagree with some, but he is definitely a brillaint philosopher.
chomsky.info : The Noam Chomsky Website

---------- Post added 05-14-2010 at 01:08 PM ----------


Brian, the examples that you give seem to me to be good reasons FOR studying ethics! The behavior that you observe in your Asian comrades is a sample of moral values learned through culture. In other words, most people follow the code of right and wrong that they grew up with. Studying ethics helps one develop a more thoughtful aproach to deciding what is right or wrong. Instead of just following the opinions of others, ethics (like all branches of philosophy) give one a basis for developing one's own opinion. Even if one bases their moral code on the teachings of their religion, the study of ethics can help one to discern the difference between what a "religious leader" says is right, and what is actually right based on scripture.

I sense that you would, perhaps, prefer not to make any distinction at all between "right and wrong". If you think about it, though, you will see that some sense of right and wrong, of how one should behave, is important to the functioning of human society. If most people just did what they felt like doing, then no one could trust other people enough to have a society.

A study of Ethics cannot be absolutely useless. All religions are based on the platform called Ethics. Religions are not useless. And therefore, Ethics by itslef cannot be useless.

There are many who cut or kill animals to survive. The nation-state's does it. Multi-nationals like Macdonalds, KFCs, does it. Universities, Laboratories, and academics does it. Tribesmen, and boys like Bear Gryles does it. These examples should not be made into a case against Ethics. The application of Ethics is more oriented towards the assumed goal of a society as a whole, and moreless towards a particular individual.

Civilisations and religions are the result of an evolving ethical man.

Ethics does not decide what is right or wrong, it is simply the categorizing of right or wrong.
---------- Post added 05-15-2010 at 09:14 AM ----------



That is an opinion, as mine is my own. Religions to me are not as important as you say they are. I'm not trying to offend. These are my formulated opinions. I don't find ethics in coerced conversions or religions wars.

Well, mine were, as obviously it is ..... my considered opinion. You may do well to consider, how it does not matter whether religion is of any importance to you or not. For that matter to me too. Religion is not important for me too. But our personal likes and dislikes cannot take away from the fact that to a whole lot of humanity it is important. Thats a fact and not an opinion.

Forget the above, and let us retrace the issue from an interesting 'opinion' you gave in response to another poster. Ethics is indeed all about right and wrong. Applied ethics is what concerns society. Society lays down the rules of behaviour or the norms of engagement.

If society feels that gay marriages cannot be encouraged, than religion and civil laws reflect the same. I personally may not see anything drastically wrong for gay couples to get married, privately, but even then, i feel the gays should respect the societies laws, or else suffer consequences. Doesn't ethics allow such tolerence.

The study of ethics is just the study of standards and aceptance of of others' rationality over an indvidual's. they tell you what's right in you and what's wrong, regardless of whether it's true or not.

Who dictates what's right or wrong in religion? It is not them. Likewise, society dictates what's right or wrong. The only freedom they have is the freedom of deciding upon two choices that have been presented to them, right or wrong. Right or wrong is simply the standards of a society and not an individual's standards. Being gay is not wrong yet religion would argue it is. That is not a formulated opinion, that is an adopted opinion. So no one should should be gay. Ethics does not decide what is right or wrong, it is simply the categorizing of right or wrong.

There are several branches of ethics: The one which you seem to be speaking of is "descriptive" ethics. In this branch, you simply look at what this culture or that religion, or those fraternities consider to be right or wrong behavior. You are feeling the oppression of the moral judgments that certain segments of society make regarding your behavior and that of others. When you say:
,you are responding to someone else's established ethical system. When I, and most philosophers, talk about "studying ethics", we are talking about studying ideas for how to determine whether something is right or wrong. That is the branch called "normative" ethics and, possibly, "meta-ethics".
Ethics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You actually show some strong opinions about right and wrong when you say, "Being gay is not wrong yet religion would argue it is." The study of ethics would arm you with some powerful arguments to back up your opinions. It could also help you to develop a basis for making important decisions.

A philosopher walks into a bar: [P]hilosopher [Gets up from his stool to leave and just before he exits, yells out]: You got something against long faces?!

Hi, Ergo

Some of us ethicists smile a lot, because we are happy, and have a deep serenity and contentment.

Why? Because we see it all working out eventually. We discover that we are not alone, that there are thousands and thousands of like-minded people who share our value, who have the same priorities.


To all Forum members:
Check out the new essay, a link to which is below. Let us know your impressions of it. If you can find the time to look it over please give us a constructive critique of it.