Philosophy Now Forum

prof wrote:Thank you, Lev, for a fine contribution !!

And we agree on so many policy issues, such as, for example, climate change reforms.

Irony?

There was no irony intended in what I said.

Here is a relevant quote:

"Adults are culpable if they mess things up by being thoughtless, insensitive, reckless, impulsive, shortsighted, and by assuming that what suits them will suit everyone instead of taking a more objective viewpoint. They are also, importantly, culpable if their understanding of what is beneficial and harmful is mistaken." ---- R. Hirsthouse

In other words, the points I made in this thread are not meant to apply to children, but rather to adults. Those who commit these moral errors [these ethical fallacies] lack what Aristotle spoke of as phronesis. Today we call it: Practical Wisdom. The French speak of it as savoir faire.

prof wrote:There was no irony intended in what I said.

Here is a relevant quote:

"Adults are culpable if they mess things up by being thoughtless, insensitive, reckless, impulsive, shortsighted, and by assuming that what suits them will suit everyone instead of taking a more objective viewpoint. They are also, importantly, culpable if their understanding of what is beneficial and harmful is mistaken." ---- R. Hirsthouse

In other words, the points I made in this thread are not meant to apply to children, but rather to adults. Those who commit these moral errors [these ethical fallacies] lack what Aristotle spoke of as phronesis. Today we call it: Practical Wisdom. The French speak of it as savoir faire.

Your quote applies to different people in different measure. It is possible to teach people to be better than that. It is not easy, but some can achieve this to a point. It is also possible to teach people to chose the easy way, and be insensitive, and accept their subjective position as if it were the truth; to rely on faith and not reason; to assert the world for what they want it to be, and not what the evidence suggests it to be.
Science does not, and cannot teach morality, but can furnish people with the facts of the world upon which better judgements can be made in the moral sphere.
Religion, although, often well meaning, teaches the wrong sort of thinking; making it okay to accept things on faith without seeking knowledge of the facts. It is a poor basis upon which to form a moral system. And, by and large it is religion that we abuse our children with.