From: Scott Roberts (jse885@earthlink.net)
Date: Thu Aug 19 2004 - 17:49:00 BST
Chuck,
> Scott replied:
>
> > Responsibility begins when we are conscious of the motives of our
> > actions.
> > We then have the choice to act on the motive or not.
>
>
[Chuck]> Re: "It means they don't have to pick up their garbage..."
> By introducing the term "responsibility" in that line's loaded shadow
> you create a context that suggests some lofty posthumous judgment-call,
> perhaps by St. Peter at the foot of some mythical pearly gates? The
> absence of which I understood you to be lamenting in a reality that
> lacked an afterlife.
I meant to create a context that suggests karma, the absence of which I
would lament, but which lamenting does not mean that I assume karma is a
reality, in its usual sense, since I just don't know. But since I do know
that space and time are not fundamental, there is logical space for
something like karma.
>
[Chuck:]> Also, every motive for your actions and mine is a selfish one.
Mostly they are, but I don't know about all. But being aware of the
selfishness is the point. Since one can be conscious of the selfishness of
one's motives, one can become less selfish by not carrying out the actions.
That is, once I see that my motive is selfish, but then carry out the
action anyway, I am then responsible for knowingly doing something selfish,
and that's Not Good if it leaves some garbage behind that someone else has
to deal with.
But, it is quite possible that I then have a selfish motive for trying to
not be selfish. The only procedure at that point is what Hajime Tanabe
calls "absolute critique" (see The Philosophy of Metanoetics), which is
moving the whole morality question to another level, a religious one,
albeit it one that is not all comforting. Quite the opposite, in fact.
- Scott
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