Saturday, January 14, 2023

Ethical Reciprocity

 

We live in a rich, complex, interactive world. This requires a mixture of ethical motives to adjust accordingly. One is an egoist at times, and an altruist at other times.

 

In line with moderate truthfulness, a good approach to living is to blend polar attributes to be the most effective. For example, one wants to be brave but not reckless, and cautious but not cowardly. Moderate truthfulness indicates that typically one exemplifies or deploys one trait more than the other, and that this blend of applied traits in actions taken is the proper mixture, somehow becoming balanced and proper. In this instance, agent here should be brave-cautious.

 

Now let me return to talking about ethics. If the community is to be cared for, then the needs of every individual in that community must be honored. This does or should guarantee equal treatment for all members of the community, but not equal outcomes.

 

It also follows that each individual in the community should get after it—success--and chase after his own interests, with his committed time, energy and resources, with some secondary consideration for the community needs.

 

If all individuals care for their own affairs fully and competently there would not be much for the community to compensate for inequality of outcomes.

 

Also, when the individual sins he hurts the community and himself too. So, he must not be evil most of the time.

 

When the whole community heads over a moral cliff, it hurts all as a unit and as individuals. 

 

The individual is to love, serve and give homage to God and behave well and is taking good care of the self (self-love) while simultaneously taking care of the community (collective love).

 

He is not to be an egoist-egoist, but an egoist-altruist, not an altruist-egoist or an altruist-altruist.

 

 

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