And then once you have multiple ethical systems and they’re staring you in the face and you still need to make a decision, what then? My current (not super helpful) strategies include: Flip-flopping Comparative ethics Intuitive guesses All feel weak and messy. Ideas?
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Replying to @utotranslucence @reasonisfun
Hard to say anything without a lot more context, but... accepting moral messiness is a key first step in "fluid ethics" it seems. It's equivalent to admitting that no system can give a definite answer.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
“Weak”… the antidote to that is confidence developed through experience—not confidence that you’ll always do the right thing (which is not possible), but confidence in your basically good intentions and good sense and likelihood of nearly always doing something reasonably OK.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
Adherence to a system provides comfort that you will do the right thing if you follow its dictates. When you lose faith in systems, you can feel torn and lost and in danger of falling into a pit without principles to support you. [“stage 4.5”] The stakes seem very high…
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
“Fluidity” includes a renewed sense of general comfort with ethics, partly from confidence in yourself, but also a sense that the stakes are not dramatically higher than the practical consequences. You don’t bother with obsessive ethical angst on top of practical decisions.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
Uh, I have some points in this collection of giant IOUs that might possibly be relevant (albeit extremely condensed):https://meaningness.com/ethics
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
Especially if you are suffering from ethical dilemmas, you should probably be less ethical. It makes you unhappy and doesn’t do anyone else any good. (This sounds either evil or like a joke, but it is serious, although it has to be taken the right way.)pic.twitter.com/qWydG3UW8T
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
Excessive consideration of ethics can sometimes be a way of trying to convince your self that you are OK, motivated by fear that you aren’t. That’s unhelpful, and best let go of. https://meaningness.com/self pic.twitter.com/ptMtC5OjDg
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
Accurate ethical decision-making is easier when you lose interest in evaluating yourself. That’s an extraneous distraction. It can also lead to harm to others a well as yourself if you try to be a saint and fail.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
But given others will likely evaluate you, isn’t it worthwhile to at least stay a little ahead of them? (Excluding situations where you are overly paranoid about what others think)
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Well, pragmatically there’s value in being well-thought-of by one’s community. That’s not really an ethical consideration in itself, though, is it?
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