The 14th amendment? What's that, like the 5th element or something? I've never heard of such a thing in my life. I deny all knowledge.
The question I have to ask about that is your case looks like this. You go from A) "I feel pain," to B) "others feel pain," and then jump right to C) "therefore, it is wrong for me to inflict pain on them." And "why" is the part that's missing. Why is it wrong for you to inflict pain on them?
The only way the answer to that question can be understood is in the context of the experience of pain. It's because pain, unlike happiness, is such an awful experience. And I can't break down "awful" any further, so again, one would have to have a subjective experience of the word in order to know what I'm talking about. Do you have the necessary experience to know what I'm talking about?
And there's also something I want to re-address that you said earlier, that I don't think we dealt with properly. You suggested that my anti-pain morality is simply an elaborate means of preventing myself from being on the receiving end of the pain stick. And I asked what then propels people to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others - or more properly, what should propel them to do so. There's something more to it than self-interest, it seems.
But then we have the problem of parsing out what that universal law is exactly - how do we measure it? How do we observe it? How do we know when we're right or wrong about what it is?
Care to guess? ;-)
That's "Mrs. General_re" to you, buddy ;)
Whoaa! You even married her. That must've been quite a weekend!
Ehhh, I saw you there, don't try to deny it. Wanna argue about that instead? ;)
The only way the answer to that question can be understood is in the context of the experience of pain. It's because pain, unlike happiness, is such an awful experience. And I can't break down "awful" any further, so again, one would have to have a subjective experience of the word in order to know what I'm talking about. Do you have the necessary experience to know what I'm talking about?
Hmmm. Maybe we're overcomplicating things just a bit. Instead of trying to analyze things in terms of my relationship to you, and your relationship to the world in terms of pain, let's break it down to a single case, if we can.
You say that you experience pain. I accept that and believe you - I take you at your word in this. Now, setting aside anyone else's experience of pain, or their feelings about pain (including me), why is it wrong for me to inflict pain on you? Nevermind whether I feel pain or not, or whether anyone else does - let's just put it in terms of the single case of you. Is it wrong for me to inflict pain on you? If so, why?
And there's also something I want to re-address that you said earlier, that I don't think we dealt with properly. You suggested that my anti-pain morality is simply an elaborate means of preventing myself from being on the receiving end of the pain stick. And I asked what then propels people to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others - or more properly, what should propel them to do so. There's something more to it than self-interest, it seems.
There's a potential answer for that in evolution as well, it turns out - Dawkins devotes much time to that very question of "why self-sacrifice?" in The Selfish Gene. Whether his answer is compelling or not, I leave up to you ;)
Care to guess? ;-)
Is it my turn to look for a lifeline ;)
Whoaa! You even married her. That must've been quite a weekend!
Must have been - I wound up with two kids and a house in the suburbs. Can't quite figure out how that happened...