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Moral Disgust

Ivor the Engineer

Penultimate Amazing
Ivor the Engineer
Joined
Feb 18, 2006
Messages
10,584
Julie and Mark are brother and sister. They are traveling together in France on summer vacation from college. One night they are staying alone in a cabin near the beach. They decide that it would be interesting and fun if they tried making love. At the very least it would be a new experience for each of them. Julie was already taking birth control pills, but Mark uses a condom too, just to be safe. They both enjoy making love, but they decide not to do it again. They keep that night as a special secret, which makes them feel even closer to each other. What do you think about that? Was it OK for them to make love?
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http://www.nd.edu/~wcarbona/Haidt 2001.pdf

Are our feelings and intuitions about particular behaviours a better guide for what acts we ought to prohibit or condemn than rationally evaluating whether there was any harm from those acts?
 
Well, personally... there's very little that I condemn. In a way, it seems a form of denial. I will however say that we ought not do certain things for specific reasons.

I guess it's just a matter of how strong your prejudices are. Mine are pretty weak, even on issues that others find appalling. Does this mean that I am more prone to commit heinous acts? Not that I've noticed, but then again, my definition of a heinous act may be slightly different from others in my society. In any case, I'm not in jail, nor have I done much that would put me there.
 
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Sigh. Is there nothing that can be hidden behind the cloak of skepticism? Murder, cannibalism?
 
lionking said:
Sigh. Is there nothing that can be hidden behind the cloak of skepticism? Murder, cannibalism?
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If you'd like to hold certain concepts as sacred or taboo, that's your prerogative. I choose not to. This does not mean that I am open to actually enacting certain things, but I am almost always open to discussing them.
 
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Okay, what about bestiality? Is there evidence of harm (psychological as well) to animals?
 
lionking said:
Incest has been a taboo for a very long time for very good reasons
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Yes, but what if we were to have those reasons under control, as in the situation actually described? Are there reasons outside of potential birth defects? If so, please explain.
 
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In this case, there is very little possibility of reproduction, which is the main problem with incest. The situation remains private, there is mutual consent - who exactly is harmed here?
 
You have proven beyond doubt you are a troll Ivor. I've made some posts here which are destined to AAH or worse, but the games you are playing are antithetical to this whole forum.
 
lionking said:
Okay, what about bestiality? Is there evidence of harm (psychological as well) to animals?
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I would consider the harm to the human involved a greater consideration. The required secrecy... the shame involved... admittedly, this depends on a society that condemns such things. If we lived in a society that didn't condemn such practices? Hmm... food for thought, I guess. Like most, I do find the idea of being sexually attracted to a member of a different species a bit odd, but I also find the idea of being attracted to my own sex a bit odd... and people have ceased to condemn that nowadays (well, some still do, but it isn't PC in my society).
 
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arthwollipot said:
In this case, there is very little possibility of reproduction, which is the main problem with incest. The situation remains private, there is mutual consent - who exactly is harmed here?
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Okay, you were answering the questions in the quote in the OP.

Am I right in thinking that to the question "Are our feelings and intuitions about particular behaviours a better guide for what acts we ought to prohibit or condemn than rationally evaluating whether there was any harm from those acts?", you believe rationality is a better guide than our feelings and intuitions?
 
Ivor the Engineer said:
Okay, you were answering the questions in the quote in the OP.

Am I right in thinking that to the question "Are our feelings and intuitions about particular behaviours a better guide for what acts we ought to prohibit or condemn than rationally evaluating whether there was any harm from those acts?", you believe rationality is a better guide than our feelings and intuitions?
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This question can equally apply to sex with children, right?
 
lionking said:
You have proven beyond doubt you are a troll Ivor. I've made some posts here which are destined to AAH or worse, but the games you are playing are antithetical to this whole forum.
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If you drink milk you probably don't have a problem with animals being sexually exploited by humans, at least as long as the human isn't enjoying it.
 
Ivor said:
Are our feelings and intuitions about particular behaviours a better guide for what acts we ought to prohibit or condemn than rationally evaluating whether there was any harm from those acts?
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Maybe they are in some cases but obviously not everyone is disgusted by the same things.

If everyone was disgusted by the actions of Julie and Mark then Julie and Mark probably wouldn't have done it as they would have been disgusted.

For some reason I also don't feel disgusted by what they did. I take it they are of consenting age and neither was coerced.

Well then? What's the problem?
 
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