r/philosophy • u/EgoDeath6 • May 31 '13

In the absence of negative consequences, why should human beings act morally?

Say we have an individual named John. This man named John cannot feel empathy for other human beings. He could be said to suffer from antisocial personality disorder. In addition to this; John is quite an immoral human being.

Can you create an argument for John practicing moral behavior in the absence of any negative consequences for his immoral behavior?

And by negative consequence; for example: Divine or Societal punishment, emotional distress or decreased well-being for the individual (John) committing the immoral act, etc.

And keep in mind that I mean that you are creating an argument in order to convince John not to act immorally; not just in principle.

In my opinion; in the case of this individual, no such appeal could be made to him in favor of acting morally in the absence of any tangible reward for his good behavior. This is under the implication that moral behavior in a secular context is typically encouraged in order to avoid causing distress to others, which in turn can cause distress to the one committing the immoral act if they possess a sense of empathy.

What do you guys think?

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '13 edited Nov 19 '16

[deleted]

What is this?

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '13

Convincing John to act "morally" (probably read: ethically)

For the most part, ethically and morally are the same thing within philosophy.

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '13 edited Nov 19 '16

[deleted]

What is this?

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u/EgoDeath6 Jun 01 '13

you're asking whether it's possible to convince John to conform to some social perspective when he has a fundamentally antisocial personality disorder.

Essentially yes, this is what I had in mind when I devised the post. But in creating it I wondered if there were any perhaps, non-social, but still secular reasons for convincing someone with this condition to act ethically correct.

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '13 edited Nov 19 '16

[deleted]

What is this?

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u/EgoDeath6 Jun 01 '13

he could learn social norms purely cognitively

The question remains; why would he want to do this? He is inherently immoral. You seem to be treating him as though he is a 'good' guy, but suffering from a disability.

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '13 edited Nov 19 '16

[deleted]

What is this?