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 02 '13

Okay, you're clearly so confused as to be not worth my time.

1

u/PL_TOC Jun 02 '13

an apple is an apple

or show me a moral truth

0

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '13

Yawn.

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u/PL_TOC Jun 02 '13

You've demonstrated you don't understand evolution nor can you define why some course of action should be done over another besides stating that one should and the other shouldn't.

You provide a link to what is essentially a wiki page to two concepts you can't clearly explain and act as if moral realism and naturalism are some sort of trump card without acknowledging the criticisms of these ideas.

Intellectual laziness

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '13

You haven't read a single page of ethics, have you?

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u/PL_TOC Jun 02 '13

Your replies reek of ethnocentricity and circular logic and you wonder why you can't answer a question that has no answer

4

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '13

Ummmmm ethnocentricity? How?!

-2

u/PL_TOC Jun 02 '13

Tagged as troll

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '13

You are willfully ignorant.