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From: laura@utcsstat.UUCP (Laura Creighton)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: What's right?
Message-ID: <904@utcsstat.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 18-Aug-83 15:15:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcsstat.904
Posted: Thu Aug 18 15:15:37 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Aug-83 17:47:48 EDT
References: <87@orca.UUCP>
Organization: U. of Toronto, Canada
Lines: 47

This is a difficult question to phrase an answer to. I am not overly good
at such explanations, so if this doesn't work, let me know.

I am not so foolish as to believe that what I think is right is what everyone
thinks as right. There is altogether too much contrary evidence. I also
do not believe that what is right for me is necessarily right for anyone
else. There is no absolute standard here.

On the other hand, there are some things which are wrong, simply because
they are illogical. "The kindness of slaughtering innocents" fits this
sort of definition. There is no purpose in arguing the 'right' or 'wrong'
of this, the whole premise is so warped that one's brain hurts to actually
think of it. You can dismiss such things as 'wrong by having no internal
consistancy'. There is also the matter of timing. You had better pick your time
well. There is nothing wrong in eating roast beef, chicken, pumpkin pie,
ice cream, bean sprouts or peanut butter if that is your wish -- but i would
advise you not to eat them all at once unless you enjoy stomache aches.

If one has made the effort to consider "what is right" as opposed to
"what I want" then one has made considerable progress. 

People who have come to a conclusion about what is right, and have reasons
I can deal with. Mistakes I can deal with. What (according to me, naturally)
appears to be a logical error in determining what is right I can deal with.
I do not have a mechanism for dealing with people who make their decisions
on 'what I want' without considering 'what is right'. I tend to want to
shock them into thinking, so i can actually talk to them about making
decisions. I have yet to meet a person that did not have a complicated list
of wants, many of which conflict with each other, and many of which conflict
with what they profess to be right. (I would be very interested in meeting such
a person if he exists.) This level of confusion often leads to bad decisions.

I do not impose my beliefs on other people. 

This is extremely repugnant to me. On the other hand, I will not let them 
impose their beliefs on me. This does not preclude intelligent discussion,
whereby one's beliefs may undergo a voluntary change.
I would be extremely pleased if someone voluntarily decided that what I
perceive was right was a better approximation to 'right' than what they
currently believe. I certainly believe this to be the case,
at least in the cases where I can preceive how other people determine 
what they consider right, (naturally enough,
otherwise I would have adopted that other person's method of determining 
what is right).

laura creighton
utzoo!utcsstat!laura