Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Public Pontification

I did it. I pontificated in public about my little pet theory for a 21 century ethical morality in a public place. Admittedly Canada.com forums are read by a very few true scholars, but I was curious to see how my proposed ethical guide would be received. I targeted a very specific debate on the page that seemed appropo and posted with 'all guns-a-blazin'. Read it at http://communities.canada.com/shareit/forums/thread/53466.aspx

I was pleasantly surprised by the reception it got. Now....how far should I carry this pet theory?


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2 comments:

Cameron said...

I like the three you came up with (reciprocity being the key feature obviously) but I had two comments to make about your list;

- 'Be Nice' is I think, underrated as a prescriptive. Sure, it's origins may lie in a truly terrible movie (Road House), but the sentiment is I think almost more important than reciprocity. Unlike your first rule, this one is more than just relativism (i.e. more than just 'I want the same behaviour you want'), in that it requests a positive action or purpose to our actions.

- 'Be considerate of others feelings' strikes me as a restatement of sorts of your first premise (reciprocity). If being considerate of others feelings is different from reciprocity, or 'be nice', it may be worthwhile for you to unpack exactly how it is different.

March 1, 2007 at 3:52 PM
Jefe said...

I see what you're saying.

I listed "reciprocity" first as it was the easiest segue from the 10 C's, and was a nice way to de-dogmatize the discussion of 21 century ethical morality.

I guess the 3rd point, "Be Kind." functions as "Be Nice", but there are some linguistic differences between the concepts of "Nice" and "Kind".

I'm going to have to ponder a bit and post a follow up piece that unpacks and describes in greater detail my views on the 3 instructions.

March 2, 2007 at 8:53 AM

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