Thanks to memes, we can hold ourselves apart and consider the spectacle, thereby falling into delusion and wonder.
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Explorations Outside
...plenty of environmentalists include humans in their circle of caring. It's just that their circle includes more than humans. Such caring doesn't need a rationale. It doesn't even need to be rational.
Might the consistent application of these Moral Principles reduce overall well-being in society at large? If so, why might this happen and should anything be done about it?
If needs are for scarce resources that cannot be distributed equally, is the answer just to prevent everyone from accessing those resources? Why? Why not?
The ideological mind is a fortress, ever vigilant against infiltration and treason. The ideological mind keeps its eye on the prize, keen to weed out those who impede progress. And so we have Establishment Democrats, Wall Street Democrats, and now Corporate Democrats: the Left's New Despicables.
Why do we signal virtue? Is it to give each other courage: you are not alone. I stand up for the good and the true - you can, too. Is it to do good by building collective confidence to fight the forces of evil - in other words, a tactic to combat evil? Is it a form of bragging? Is it to let your family, friends, and neighbors know that you're not one of Them?
Thoughts are inchoate until expressed in the head or the world. Expression generates thoughts from patterns of spreading activation.
The idea of reflection is Cartesian to its core: a stand-alone consciousness, calmly observing the parade of thoughts and feelings, assuming a higher vantage point, drawing lessons and extracting principles: a wise Self.
Sometimes the straw man is a “hollow man”, i.e., a complete fabrication of the opponent’s views. These are pretty easy to refute, since they can’t be supported by actual evidence. Harder to refute are strawman arguments based on half-truths.
So it's more accurate to say humans are prediction machines: "devices that constantly try to stay one step ahead of the breaking waves of sensory stimulation, by actively predicting the incoming flow." (Clark, 2016)
The urge to label hovers before the stream of consciousness, ready to take the wind out of its sails. Of course, the weather's always changing and the wind often comes out of nowhere.
Benefits often come with a cost... Burdens may yield benefits.... Benefits and burdens may be certain but small or uncertain but large...immediate but brief or delayed but long-lasting. Moral principles only go so far in helping us sort it all out.
Indignation is pretty much a knee-jerk reaction to perceived injustice and is associated with a desire to punish the guilty party. The guilty party may be seen as having too much of a good thing or too little of a bad thing.
No one likes being told they're an ideologue or that their profound observations are profoundly ideological.
Thing is, what gets you in isn't what keeps you there. The hardest part is to jump in. To place yourself within a new web of experience and influence. If monetary incentives are what it takes to make you jump, so be it. New reasons for being there will unfold as new rewards are discovered.
The effects of self-determined actions and non-actions come with varying degrees of certainty, immediacy, importance, magnitude, and vividness, as do the effects of restricting self-determined actions and non-actions.
The Harm Principle: "We should allow rational people to be self-determining, except possibly where autonomy should be restricted if, by doing so, we act to prevent harm to others." Don Berkich
How do we prioritize moral principles when they’re in conflict with each other? Why that way and not another way?
As our moral sense develops, we may find ourselves reflecting less and reacting more. In the beginning we struggle to sort it out. Eventually we become more settled in our judgments. What began as moral reasoning is increasingly replaced by moral intuitions. Some of us may become opinionated and easily outraged...
My goal is not to provide answers. It's to stimulate thought. Thought reveals and lights the way. Thought conceals and distracts. Self-correction is more likely when we think with humility.