5/ Alternate theory: being good is not as hard as we make it out to be, the grey areas aren't that grey.
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6/ What if people AREN'T mostly good in the sense of not wanting to cause pain? What if causing pain in central to lives of many?
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7/ I call this "shades of red" theory as opposed to shades of grey. To varying degrees a lot more people *want* to cause unnecessary pain
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9/ We are raised to believe only small % ("criminals") _want_ to cause pain for gain. Most don't. A few saints suffer for others (top left)
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10/ Shades of red theory asserts that majority - everybody to right of "apathetic" - gets off on others' unnecessary pain at least a little
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11/ Shades of red is based on a deontological notion of evil -- finding pleasure in causing/witnessing pain. Good is negatively defined.
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12/ By this theory, most "good" people are actual bad: they define "evil" to dehumanize, to justify causing pain for pleasure
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13/ Our penal system implicitly assumes shades-of-red theory. Prison guards and cops I suspect have at least a small streak of sadism.
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14/ Stanford prison experiments: almost all of us are capable of finding pleasure in causing/witnessing pain
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15/ If this is true, my original definition of civilizing project is nonsensical and most people are NOT on board with it
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16/ Worse, most moral philosophy is obsessed with defining evil primarily to find targets for justifiable pain-causing.
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17/ Enemies give life meaning and purpose. Moralizing is overtly about trying to do good, but covertly about prepping victims for pain
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