9/11 Firemen?
VERY long term thinking!I look at morality as placing the individual's long-term interests over the individual's short-term interests.
9/11 Firemen?
I must say I was rather disturbed by the FDNY saga. Didn't they realize they would never be able to do any real good in time before the building they were in collapsed, killing them and their intended rescuees? They MUST have assumed the building would hold for an hour or two. I cannot believe their commanders would have sent them up there if they knew they only had 1/2 hour to climb up 60 floors, douse a fire enough to open up a passageway past the wreckage, and climb back down 60 floors.
Anyway, regarding the general case of people putting their lives on the line as part of their standard job description: First, these people train constantly to try to minimize their risks. Would you sign up for a job where you knew that suicide was inevitable? Probably not, unless times were desperate indeed.
Secondly, these people do know that there is that risk, and they accept that they will cause themselves to die if the situation calls for it. Even here they are trying to maximize their values and those of the people they love. Even if that includes society in general.
Myself, a complete nontheist, would happily (hah) do my part to defeat the terrorists if I was on Flight 93. 'Course, there they knew they were about to die no matter what they did. But the thought of letting myself be a passive passenger on a kamikaze flight, participating in the murder of thousands, would be unthinkable - even though I'd understand that my own death was imminent.
I love our society, and I love our species. I want humanity to thrive even after my death, just like I want my husband & future children to thrive long after my death.
I believe that virtue consists of having a commitment to the consistent application of one's values, and internalizing that commitment. Applying selfish principles consistently and farsightedly sometimes results in actions & attitudes that can seem rather altruistic on the surface. Or put another way: An act of self-sacrifice can be quite moral to an Objectivist if they see it as an investment in the future, or a "moral cost of living", as it were.