From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@rawbw.com)
Date: Sun Apr 13 2008 - 23:01:07 MDT
Samantha wrote
>> To add on, suppose that you love X, and right
>> before an extremely painful operation, you express
>> sympathy for X and tell her so. Would you be lying
>> if you then added "of course, whether it's you who
>> undergoes the pain or some random African is
>> actually indifferent to me"? Or would that be the
>> truth (however hurtful the statement itself might be)?
>
> What the heck does "love" mean if it does not mean that I esteem the
> person I love more than random other persons that I may not even know?
> And why would I say such a thing?
I agree. Sorry, but I was addressing someone else's POV.
>> Well, as you know, some people wish to degrade
>> others for sexual gratification. There are probably
>> other people who you and I would equally condemn
>> who might wish to degrade others in various ways.
>> That is the point. To these people, it may in fact
>> be very convenient that the victim remembers nothing.
> That it is convenient to some types of molesters makes what point exactly?
The point was that damage or harm was done, regardless of
memory retention. The quality of someone's overall life went
down as a result of the action taken.
>>> I mean a great deal more than that. To force the will
>>> of another intelligent being in such a brutish fashion
>>> makes one obviously unfit for society.
>>
>> That's a claim that depends on your particular society.
>> In some societies, exactly the reverse made people unfit.
>
> So what. I am not talking about what some "society" held.
> I am talking about [or trying to] what is and is not conducive
> to humans living together well.
>
>> Recall the Viking who refused to pinion English
>> babies on the end of his sword and swing them about.
>> The other Vikings thought this very strange, and it
>> probably lessened his status among them. But I think
>> that I agree totally with the general sentiment of what
>> you are saying. But very objectively speaking, it
>> comes down to little more than you and I and almost
>> everyone in our society today disapproving most
>> strenuously.
>
> I disagree.
Why? Your "conducive to humans living together well" is highly
culturally dependent.
Lee
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