Ethics can't be enforced?

Uberman

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Originally posted by Rekrul

Legalities can be enforced. Ethics can't.

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Ethics are enforced by Philosophy.  In a world that has substituted
Religion for Philosophy, any behavior is permissable when you can
simply ask for absolution for your actions.  Philosophy is not
forgiving, which is why so few people prefer to embrace it over Religion.  They
cannot, or will not, live up to the demanding standards of Philosophy.


Imagine how different the world would be if, instead of living by
"Judge not, lest ye be judged," everybody were taught to "Judge, and
prepare to be judged."

lardmouth

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Originally posted by Uberman

Ethics are enforced by Philosophy.  In a world that has substituted Religion for Philosophy, any behavior is permissable when you can simply ask for absolution for your actions.  Philosophy is not forgiving, which is why so few people prefer to embrace it over Religion.  They cannot, or will not, live up to the demanding standards of Philosophy.

Imagine how different the world would be if, instead of living by "Judge not, lest ye be judged," everybody were taught to "Judge, and prepare to be judged."

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Eh?

modjoe86

I think I follow where you're going with this...and I'm not sure whether I agree with you or not.

olddaddy

Actually the foregiveness of the Catholic Church, and the leniency of the US court system are both based on psychology of obtaining behavior modification. In order to achieve behavior modification you must first have an acknowledgement of wrongdoing. Obviously, if the guilty party does not acknowledge that they did anything wrong they will never modify their behavior. Second, they must demonstate a sincere act of contrition, they must be truly sorry for their behavior. Once the have acknowledged that their behavior was wrong, and expressed true remorse, leniency by the church/court is permissable. Generally, once a defendant pleads guilty to the charges, explains to the judge why what he did was wrong, expresses remorse to the court/victim, they will be granted a reduced sentence. In the case of religion, absolution granted without these conditions is entirely inappropriate, and, in the case of the Catholic Church, demonstrates a lack of understanding of confession.

Draenor

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Originally posted by modjoe86
I think I follow where you're going with this...and I'm not sure whether I agree with you or not.

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I agree with Modjoe...for the second time today, weird.

Zorvan

I like pie?

baff

Ethics can be and are enforced here.

We have all sorts of equality laws here for example. Loads of laws about fair trade and fair use too.

Xexima

I don't believe that ethics should truely be enforced.  Unless, of course that you think of basic human rights as ethics (life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happyness).