But the way the "paradox" is phrased it's putting the two duties on different people It's like sorry dude, yes, as a son the right thing for you to do is to obey your father without question But as an agent of the state, that means I have to kill you
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Because the state is MY father
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Replying to @arthur_affect @BootlegGirl
ok but then why does the agent of the state have any obligation to kill him for turning his father in? not doing that would encourage people to turn in traitors, right, so why isn't that something you "must" do as well?
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in fact, if it must act to preserve its authority, shouldn't the state protect people who turn in their relatives for treason from being murdered by angry surviving relatives? that is, again, an action which would tend to help protect the state.
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Replying to @Random832 @BootlegGirl
Because it's two competing value systems that were synthesized into one, it's a paradox caused by having two First Laws of Robotics that can never ever be violated, because one is being cited as the spiritual justification for the other
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Replying to @arthur_affect @BootlegGirl
ok but why do the consequences of that only fall on the son, and not the agent of the state who is executing him under both circumstances? why haven't "you" done something wrong, by killing someone for protecting his father / for turning in a traitor?
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Replying to @Random832 @BootlegGirl
I think a better way to conceptualize this is that Confucianism was built on seeing a family itself as the unit and not the individual I am an extension of my father (and he of his father, all the way up to a living patriarch) We are one unit
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If my father turns traitor, he is *by default* causing my family to turn traitor Just like if my brain commits a crime, that usually entails my hands and feet committing the crime (in fact they are what physically commits the crime)
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The normal, natural state of affairs is for the patriarch to say "We're rebels now", and that means we're all rebels by default, and when we get caught we'll all be killed as rebels
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The "paradox" is that there's therefore really no right thing to do for a son in this scenario If my brain decides my body is going to become a criminal, my hand coming to life and strangling me to stop it makes my hand a hero in theory
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But you can't have a disembodied animated hand wandering around, it's an affront to nature
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The issue is that the state could in theory discourage rebellion by encouraging children to spy on their parents and turn them in But this was fundamentally morally offensive It was believed that if anything undermined the bonds of family the state could not survive long term
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