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...
I did not have relations with that amendment. I just want the American people to know that.
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?
Because it sucks. But really, I'm not sure if there's any way I can convincingly answer that unless you know what it is. Otherwise, if you can take my word that I feel it, I guess you can also take my word that it's wrong.
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 ;)
BWWAHH HA HA HA HAAA! [<-- evil, maniacal laughter] And I cleverly anticipated a response to that! The issue isn't what impels us to self-sacrifice, it's whether or not we should. Yeah, I'm sure Dawkins or Gould or any one of them could come up with some evolutionary, survival-of-the-species explanation for the instinct. But as intelligent beings, we have the ability to discard most of our instincts if it's our desire. Your point to me was that we have morals against inflicting pain and death so that we ourselves can be spared it. But the fact that people bring pain and death upon themselves, and will invariably explain that they do so simply because it's the right thing to do, pulls the rug out from under your assumption that their conception of morality is guided by their desire to avoid unpleasant consequences.
Is it my turn to look for a lifeline ;)
Does this mean I have to put it in a multiple-choice format?