Some things you think are right, and some wrong.
Are there really such things? Are you ever right, or ever wrong?
What would make it so?
What is it that merits our moral consideration?
To merit moral consideration is to have something that suggests there’s some way we ought to treat you, and some ways we ought not treat you.
Are there ever things we ought to do?
What is it that tells us so?
Is it being signator to a contract?
Does that miss something? …Like everyone outside it?
How about being part of a group…
Or is that not it?
Oh. What about being human?
Did we get that wrong?
There’s a tree in the yard. How do I show you it’s really there?
That’s the thing, Mo_, they can’t be objectively wrong. Their suggestions may simply relate to your own suggestions, or the suggestions of others, in a way that you deem unfavorable.
Yes, they can get it wrong. People are motivated to ethics by self-interest. But there are conflicts even within individuals. Long-term and short-term goals can conflict. Morality is not atomic. Moral systems are just that - full of interrelations. So, even if we are deciding just for ourselves, we can work at cross-purposes. We can devise systems that work, that don’t work, that work well or poorly.
In the case of the dog, I really like dogs and my heart goes out to the dog. i am not above presenting a moral argument in favor of punishing the person who did this. Even if I don’t really believe in the argument. Tough shit. In the end, it just makes me angry. Because i really like dogs. I get a little less excited about chicken factories.
I get pretty excited both about dogs and chicken factories. Especially since the chicken factories are not necessary for us to have eggs. I regularly eat eggs and those chickens are treated very well.
No. This is the part you just don’t get. it’s not the act of suggesting itself that is wrong - it would be what we suggest that would be wrong - but not morally wrong. It would be counterproductive to the object of the endeavour. It would be like dialing a wrong number. that’s not the same as a prank call.