ethics

I have seen the Bible criticized, and frequently, on this board because it does not denounce or outlaw slavery. Seems a fair criticism on the surface; but let's take a closer look. (Two notes before I begin: First, when I speak of "the Bible" here, I am referring to the Jewish Bible, called...

This is more abstract, because I want more than the typical Moral Dilemma. Which would you sacrifice for the other? Would you chose to live ethically and die, or live unethically and live? Now we could go into specifics, like how bad a breach in ethics are we talking about? Does it make a...

Since I was young my parents have been slightly hypochondriacal. Additionally, for as long as I can remember, they have been using homeopathic preparations and seeing a naturopath amongst other things. In the last few years I have come to understand just how ridiculous homeopathy is (with the...

I hoping to hear your thoughts/opinions on two questions I've been tossing around for a few days now. I know this issue was touched on already in the forums, but not necessarily from this angle. Feel free to redirect if this belongs elsewhere. 1. What do the major religions say about...

I've separated this out from the original thread because it's somewhat off-track. Bujin has said that we shouldn't consider cloning extinct creatures, because they are supposed to be extinct. Cuddles has extended the argument to include creatures that aren't extinct yet, and suggested that this...

A charge often heard in debates over atheism, and there have been a bunch lately: “evolution is amoral!” Without God, we’re reduced to the scientific world-view, justice based on Darwinism, survival of the strongest [sic], no mercy, law of the jungle, techno-fascism, etc… The fallacious...

I am trying to find real life instances of a particular type of moral dilemma. My google fu is currently failing me. I want examples of killing to save, and the killing is of people on your own side. I want to exclude cases where you only kill the enemy. The two I am thinking of are: 1-bombing...

On the front page of today's Grauniad: Scientists find way to slash cost of drugs OK, producing cheaper drugs may be desirable, and what is proposed here may be legal, but is it "ethical", and is it sustainable? What they seem to be proposing is to let "Big Pharma" spend money developing new...

Politically Incorrect Medical Ethics Changes That Are In The Interest of Most JREFers What are they? -Creating multiple clones of ourselves now for stem cells today and transplant body parts a couple decades from now. -Being able to purchase organs from living individuals on an open market...

Is it OK to be unethical to someone who is unethical to you, except to the minimum extent necessary to defend yourself (or those you protect) from harm?

Ethics is a Science (domain of knowledge) When we think of ethics as a science (domain of knowledge) we can concentrate on learning the principles of ethics just as we would any other science. To be skilled in any science we must comprehend the fundamental principles of that science and we...

Just finishing up M. Shermer's The Science of Good and Evil and I find his ideas on provisional ethics (the idea that morals are an evolutionary development in our species and that most people try to do good things most of the time in most places) to be an intriguing balance between absolutism...

Offshoot from another thread. Posted by Geoff: Wikipedia on Kant's ethics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_Imperative DJ, in response... Posted by DarkJaguar: Ethics is hard. But I'm with Kant. D.J. is defending utilitatirianism - the belief that consequences are more...

Several days ago, a Shell gasoline station in Plainfield, Indiana mistakenly entered a price of $.002/gal. into the computer. That was the price displayed at the pump. Scores of people filled up with the obviously mispriced gasoline. After a few hours, a customer notified the attendant. The...

Just for fun, let's assume Wheeler's many-worlds interpretation is correct. Here's a question: Do we now have to worry about quantum ethics? Here's a (over)simplified example of what I mean: you engage in some very risky behavior or other, that has a high probability of injury or death --...

Let's presume for purposes of this thread that Penn & Teller produce evidence that the Sonoma Bigfoot footage was an elaborate hoax - a hoax that they themselves contrived. If we assume that the purpose of the hoax was to make fools out of the cryptozoological folks and the Bigfoot community...

I’m hoping that in splitting this topic, we can get down to the root of this discussion, as opposed to continuing the sermons that seem to have marked this topic. While some such as Delphi Ote and others, have taken the time to actually read what’s here, and try to discuss this issue...

I'm a junior in college and today I had the great fortune to land an internship in my field of study at a company I'm very excited about. Informing me of the good news via phone, the company representative indicated that I must decide by March 9th whether or not I'm taking the job. At this...

Do idealism and materialism differ on ethical and moral grounds? If a robber believes in materialism then he knows his actions will result in the suffering of others, such as a family deprived of food, that cannot be undone in this world. If a robber believes in idealism then he knows the...

(I put this here because ethics is a branch of philosophy. I won't whine if the mods move it though) A couple of scientific ethical 'controveries' that have surfaced lately puzzle me. The first concerns the donation of eggs to South Korean stem cell researchers. Apparently, some people...

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1650323,00.html So, there appear to be two problems - the first being that he used eggs donated from two members of his own research team, and the second being that some women were paid for their eggs. Personally I don't see why either of these...

None. I am tired of threads with variants of this argument, so I am going to put it into large letters for everyone to read: Being a 'Skeptic' isn't like being a 'thing'. It's an approach to an argument and has no ethics attributed to it. If I'm wrong, then I really screwed up with the big...

I watched something on the news last night about Stem Cell research how Bush is against it while alot of the government is for it. Anyway the talk made me think about some stuff I never have before. They had this crippled guy talk about that he'd rather die than have potential humans die to save...

Hi, This is something I am giving a lot of thought to recently, and I wanted some opinions. In my youth I was into all sorts of magic and mysticism. Crystals, Astrology, Tarot, I-Ching. You name it, I looked into it. At the time I considered it part of a search for knowledge. The I...

In light of all these supposed "ghost" photos posted on this message board, along with the recent outrageous bid for such an item on Ebay (not to mention the famed "Virgin Mary" grilled cheese sandwhich that sold a few months ago for close to $30K!) I thought about a very interesting and unique...

It's not at all hypocritical! http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1803&ncid=1278&e=3&u=/washpost/20041117/pl_washpost/a54572_2004nov16

As one of my study electives (as part of an MBA), I have just started a short, intensive course on "Leadership and Philosophy". Three weekends to cover Plato, Confucious, Buddha, Kant, Smith and Marx! (focussing on knowledge, ethics and leadership) We started yesterday with plato's ideas on...

Here's a little one to tax you all... If I am running a sceptical website that debunks paranormal, psychic and supernatural stuff or at least provides links to people and places that do (eg. Randi, Skeptic Magazine, the writing of people like Shermer, Bob Carroll etc.), is it a good idea to...

If, one day far in the future, science was able to design a machine/robot that could think and experience emotions, would you treat that being as an equal? Or would it still be just a machine to you, albeit a very fancy one? I feel that it should be treated as an equal once it becomes sentient...