The difference between right and wrong

danarch · 09-29-2007, 01:25 AM

its a question as old as civilization its self

"whats the difference between right and wrong"

there was a point in my life where this question plagued me for almost 2 years. what struck me in awe was that everyone had an answer. each with asspects that conficted.
then it became whos right and whos wrong?
after a logical deduction of the facts it all becomes clear.
no one.
The difference between right and wrong is a matter of perception.
after coming to this realization the fog lifted from my mind. the haze of religious opression dissapeared from my thoughts. logic and reason began to re-establish themselves after years of mental anguish. i am not proud of the weakmindness of becoming subject to ideals meant only to enslave me, though the thought of having pulled through it still gives me some self-respect.

**Skepticologist** · 09-29-2007, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danarch

i am not proud of the weakmindness of becoming subject to ideals meant only to enslave me, though the thought of having pulled through it still gives me some self-respect.

And well it should. It takes more than a little fortitude to shuck all that comfort that comes with what is "known", and to cast yourself onto the sea of the unknown and, in my experience, largely unknowable.

With regard to the difference between right and wrong, I've arrived at a distinction that seems to be serving me well so far. It's almost a reiteration of the Hippocratic oath that contains the premise "to do no harm".

If I do anything that results in harm to a fellow human being, or an animal, or any other sentient being, it's wrong. Whatever I do that causes no harm, even if it correspondingly devolves in no benefit, is right.

danarch · 09-30-2007, 03:00 AM

thank you.

just wondering, how do u feel about causing harm to stop or prevent it?

example: lets say im walking downtown and i see a man grab a highschool girl from behind,put his hand over her mouth,drag her to the ground and begin to undress and rape her.... to me the childs well-being instantly takes prominace over any of my thoughts of right and wrong. i will gladly beat the man down to a bloody pulp. hell, he may even look over his shoulder and think twice before doing it again. and i will feel good when its over because i know i did what i felt was right,even though i caused harm to another.

i like to follow something similar to a "warriors code"

would you take the passive approach in this situation?

ps. this, in a way, happend to me and i rememberd it after writing this post

**Skepticologist** · 09-30-2007, 07:28 PM

In the hypothetical situation you cited, I'd feel obligated to do whatever I could to stop the attack, even if it meant harming the attacker. One way or the other, either the attacker or the victim is clearly going to suffer harm, and I don't believe it should be a helpless woman who is unprovokedly being attacked.

That's not even a gray area in my mind. There are, however, countless situations that do fall into gray areas, and they'll be dealt with differently depending on a person' core beliefs.

Drizzling Blur · 10-14-2007, 02:49 PM

Right and Wrong ?

In management atleast, my professor tells me that there is no such thing as a right decision and a wrong decision, i always argue that this is not fair, end of the day the numbers reflect if your decision was right or wrong, so basically its logic and common sense (which is not so common btw) that decide about what is right and what is wrong, also come tagged are the principles that you stand by, the posts somehow in this thread, totally seem to have forgotten about them, where did the principle's go ?

I agree with the member who has made this thread, when he/she said that Right or Wrong is perspective, i think its true, my logical derivation could take me to a Right while my heart could take me to a Wrong. So, there's a conflict, everyone experiences this and I firmly believe, the more logical you are and evenly principled (by this word i refer to the things that you will stand up to no matter what, nothing else) you will always end up making a decision that's in the best interest.

romansh · 10-14-2007, 03:37 PM

I agree with your prof...

just how do you know at the end of the day a company's NPV (net present value) decision was good? Any other decision might have been been much higher NPV or not as bad.

One would need two identical company's making their decisions at the same time to tell which one was the best, and even then the decisions the companies made could affect one another?

Of course if the NPV is negative then the decision was bad. But making no decision may have been worse?

In a more general moral sense I don't believe that right and wrong exist. This of course leads to some very uncomfortable insights and positions from a societal point of view.

Drizzling Blur · 10-15-2007, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by romansh

just how do you know at the end of the day a company's NPV (net present value) decision was good? Any other decision might have been been much higher NPV or not as bad.
One would need two identical company's making their decisions at the same time to tell which one was the best, and even then the decisions the companies made could affect one another?
Of course if the NPV is negative then the decision was bad. But making no decision may have been worse?
In a more general moral sense I don't believe that right and wrong exist. This of course leads to some very uncomfortable insights and positions from a societal point of view.

Nice explanation there, point taken, lets assume that there is no such thing as a right or wrong decision then why do people take all pains to go through data and ensure they make a decision, why cant every decision be taken in an instant ? Why do you have to understand the trends of a market ? Why do u have to worry about your customers behavior ? Why even think about a company's image etc etc, if there is no such thing as a right or wrong decision then we would not need board room meetings and long conversations with brand managers of the company.

All we needed to do was say "Lets do this" when it feels like (read:when u like your coffee) or "Lets not do it" (read : when your coffee in hand is either too hot or you didnt like it)

**Skepticologist** · 10-15-2007, 06:44 PM

Somehow, this discussion has evolved from a moral to a corporate standpoint. Keep in mind that what's best for a corporation, or a government, for that matter, may not be best for the people involved.

And that's the guiding principle I personally believe, from a moral perspective, should be adhered to in all decision making, and which is, almost without exception, overlooked.

Such moral considerations don't lend themselves as easily to empirical analysis, but will ultimately be the arbiters of the soundness of decisions on which they're based.

romansh · 10-16-2007, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drizzling Blur

Nice explanation there, point taken, lets assume that there is no such thing as a right or wrong decision then why do people take all pains to go through data and ensure they make a decision, why cant every decision be taken in an instant ? Why do you have to understand the trends of a market ? Why do u have to worry about your customers behavior ? Why even think about a company's image etc etc, if there is no such thing as a right or wrong decision then we would not need board room meetings and long conversations with brand managers of the company.

All we needed to do was say "Lets do this" when it feels like (read:when u like your coffee) or "Lets not do it" (read : when your coffee in hand is either too hot or you didnt like it)

Some of the big reasons
Capital rationing
Company politics

In my experience quite a few opportunities (and no doubt mistakes) pass a company by before it completes it's due diligence.

I wonder how many minutes Bill Gates thought about buying the operating system before reselling to IBM?

I am not arguing that some form of analysis won't make for better decision, it's just there is no guarantee. Remember that economics is the 'dismal science'.

ps I still don't believe in the concept of right and wrong when it comes to morality. I'm not sure that morality exists outside of a societal construct?

All the best

Heroofthepast · 10-19-2007, 07:05 PM

Sorry to bring it to you but Right and Wrong do not exist. Just like good and evil they are mere concepts set up by the society. In one society to kill one another might be considered good/right and in the other bad/wrong. So because they are concepts that change with society(which is an unstable entity because of frequent changes) no clear definition for right and wrong exists. Only the definition as defined by the society you live in.