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Simple Ethics Question

Yahweh

Philosopher
Y
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Messages
9,006
Just a personal question of mine:

Is it more desirable to please everyone, or to be correct?

Choose wisely...
 
Being correct should please everyone.


...okay, I'm just pulling your leg. Being correct (for the most part).
 
Most desirable is to be correct while annoying as many people as possible. That's the sign of a true visionary.
 
I voted that it is usually more desirable to be correct.

I would rather be correct all the time but there is a time and a place for everything, including trying to please people. I.e. if I were sick and my boss reccomended homeopathy (not that this has ever happened, I don't know my bosses stance on such subjects), I would probably jst give some sort of polite brush-off like "hm, maybe I'll look into it" rather than try to score points by proving that homeopathy is malarky. In this case the fact that I am talking to the woman who signs my paychecks makes being pleasant more important than being right.
 
Somewhere in the middle there, I think. There's no real black and white on this one IMHO. Depends on the circumstances. There are things that I am not going to fight about, and things that I will. No hard and fast rules. I voted to even up the score!
:D
 
It is just not possible to please everyone all the time. One may bend over backward to please Group A, but inadvertently offend Group B. So, it is always best to be honest with one's self and with the people one is dealing with.
 
Yahweh said:
Just a personal question of mine:

Is it more desirable to please everyone, or to be correct?

Choose wisely...
Click to expand...
If I can be friendly/flexible with someone'e incorrect opinions I don't stand my ground - no need to cause ill will. However, if it's something that I deem important, I will "correct" the person as needed, hopefully in a friendly way. Some opinions are neither correct or incorrect, although I can't think of an example right now. :)
 
What does it mean to be correct? ... That's debateable.

What does it mean to please others? ... If it means going against what you believe?

Therefore I would say it's important that we please ourselves and try to at least be correct about that.
 
Re: Re: Simple Ethics Question

Iacchus said:
What does it mean to be correct? ... That's debateable.

What does it mean to please others? ... If it means going against what you believe?

Therefore I would say it's important that we please ourselves and try to at least be correct about that.
Click to expand...
I really like your post - it makes me think "outside the box." Thank you!
 
Re: Re: Simple Ethics Question

Iacchus said:
What does it mean to be correct? ... That's debateable.

What does it mean to please others? ... If it means going against what you believe?
Click to expand...
I deliberately left my question very open to interpretation.

In terms of intellectual honesty, I would say its always more desirable to be correct than to be a people pleaser (so it looks like Intelligent Design stays out of schools...).

Of course, what about working in a group? Would you rather be a people pleaser or would you rather be correct? There is much gray area to consider.
 
Yahweh said:

I deliberately left my question very open to interpretation.

In terms of intellectual honesty, I would say its always more desirable to be correct than to be a people pleaser (so it looks like Intelligent Design stays out of schools...).

Of course, what about working in a group? Would you rather be a people pleaser or would you rather be correct? There is much gray area to consider.
Click to expand...
Well I hate it when people get the wrong idea, especially when it's about me which, is why I'm not much of a people pleaser. However, that doesn't usually mean I go out of my way to tell people where they can get off. Usually I just try to maintain my reserve.

P.S There aren't too many people that I really agree with. ;)
 
We must strive to do the right thing all the time, as the right thing is by definition what we must strive to do. We can only do what is right if we know what is true and untrue.

Only then is world domination possible.
 
it tends to be more desirable to correct than to please everyone

What is 'it'?

Desirable to who?

Correct - meaning accurate?, more supporting evidence?, most popular opinion?

Please everyone? How?

Lotsa questions, no answers, therefore Planet X.

I am adrift in a sea of ambiguity.
 
That one oddball vote, "please everyone"... That's me. But it needs some explanation. I was very tempted by Planet X.

Unless the question is narrowed down, it seems like any of the answer could be reasonable, in certain circumstances. How about drama? Almost certainly better to please people there, rather than be correct (assuming there's some connection to real life....)

Math? Better to be correct, although I'm not sure how you would please people with incorrect math. Maybe statistics...


But then I tried two other tacks. If the question is meant to be as broad as possible, I figure go whole hog. Correctness isn't really verifiable, nor are everyone. So just please yourself. Silly, yes, but I didn't just want to say planet X.

The other is to ask what the point of correctness is. So we know more stuff? So what... We use it to make more people happy. (Sort of. A murky moral road, yes.) Correctness is only a secondary goal.

And finally, I figured _someone_ had to stand up for pleasure :D

Nice question: something to do on the bus today.
 
It greatly depends on your environment. Duh. So, I would just say that what is better is what benefits you the most provided it does not violate your moral values.
 
Kullervo said:
Most desirable is to be correct while annoying as many people as possible. That's the sign of a true visionary.
Click to expand...

:D Now, if the above was an option in the poll I would certainly know where to cast my vote.
 
I'd rather be desirable than correct, how should I vote? :D

Never mind, I already voted I'd rather be correct than please anyone
 
El Greco said:
It greatly depends on your environment. Duh. So, I would just say that what is better is what benefits you the most provided it does not violate your moral values.
Click to expand...
So you approve of all the people who believe stupid but comforting or convenient things?
 
Wrath of the Swarm said:
So you approve of all the people who believe stupid but comforting or convenient things?
Click to expand...

Depends on how you define "benefit" from my above quote.
 
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