[He may or may not have one, he didn't totally think that would work, but he's gonna wing it.]
Contractualism is a little complicated. It's about ethics as a mode of living with other people, not just as a set of rules. So more like humans live, a little weird for me, I guess, but it makes sense on a gut level.
See, you start with recognizing other people as equal, rational agents. I think that comes naturally to most humans, so that's fine. When you do that, of course you also have to acknowledge that human life has value. And so does Pokemon life, that's not really mentioned. Point being, the root of moral duty is the inherent value of other people, and what we owe to them as our fellow entities floating around in the vast, uncaring universe.
Valuing human life means that you should protect them from harm, and generally want the best for them. So, for example, if you see somebody drowning, you have an ethical duty to try to save them. You can argue about whether or not that applies if you yourself can't swim, but I don't think that's the situation we're in. We're just as trapped as any of you. We're also in the water, we've just managed to get onto a raft for the moment. Cyrus could come along at any moment and knock us back to where we were - but, for the moment, I believe it's our duty to try to help as many people grab onto floating bits of debris as possible.
Sure, maybe we could save ourselves. We could go hide in the woods somewhere, hope he never found us and we got to keep our minds. But what does that say about how we value others? If I abandon a bunch of unrelated humans to suffer without even trying to help them, is that a violation of the bond I hold with my particular humans? I think they'd feel like it was, and I kinda think I would too. If we're trying to be good people, if we think humanity is worth anything, then we need to do what we can to help fellow people in need.
And really, that's when we first got here. At this point, there's a few locals that I actually like. That's not an extra reason - moral duty isn't based on if someone's your buddy - but it kinda adds some fuel to the fuck-Cyrus fire.
[Michael glances around at everyone else, having been generally registering their immediate pro-battle reactions, and raises a finger.]
And also, just as a side-note, I am at least as good at battling as any of them.
no subject
[He may or may not have one, he didn't totally think that would work, but he's gonna wing it.]
Contractualism is a little complicated. It's about ethics as a mode of living with other people, not just as a set of rules. So more like humans live, a little weird for me, I guess, but it makes sense on a gut level.
See, you start with recognizing other people as equal, rational agents. I think that comes naturally to most humans, so that's fine. When you do that, of course you also have to acknowledge that human life has value. And so does Pokemon life, that's not really mentioned. Point being, the root of moral duty is the inherent value of other people, and what we owe to them as our fellow entities floating around in the vast, uncaring universe.
Valuing human life means that you should protect them from harm, and generally want the best for them. So, for example, if you see somebody drowning, you have an ethical duty to try to save them. You can argue about whether or not that applies if you yourself can't swim, but I don't think that's the situation we're in. We're just as trapped as any of you. We're also in the water, we've just managed to get onto a raft for the moment. Cyrus could come along at any moment and knock us back to where we were - but, for the moment, I believe it's our duty to try to help as many people grab onto floating bits of debris as possible.
Sure, maybe we could save ourselves. We could go hide in the woods somewhere, hope he never found us and we got to keep our minds. But what does that say about how we value others? If I abandon a bunch of unrelated humans to suffer without even trying to help them, is that a violation of the bond I hold with my particular humans? I think they'd feel like it was, and I kinda think I would too. If we're trying to be good people, if we think humanity is worth anything, then we need to do what we can to help fellow people in need.
And really, that's when we first got here. At this point, there's a few locals that I actually like. That's not an extra reason - moral duty isn't based on if someone's your buddy - but it kinda adds some fuel to the fuck-Cyrus fire.
[Michael glances around at everyone else, having been generally registering their immediate pro-battle reactions, and raises a finger.]
And also, just as a side-note, I am at least as good at battling as any of them.