Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparrow
I wonder if we only belong to one society (and one ethical system) at any one time.
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If you do, you're lucky... you'll never have an ethical conflict in your life.
But I don't think we do. We live in multiple societies at once, and so, multiple sets of ethics, and we are constantly waging internal wars over which set of ethics takes precedence at any moment or decision point.
For instance, Neill's example is a conflict between a family ethic (preserve your offspring at all costs), a societal ethic (criminals forfeit their rights in society), and possibly a higher ethic (God says killing anyone intentionally is wrong). The decision, of course, is muddied by doubts (Will my son get off the tracks? Are all those people on the train bad? Could they possibly survive the crash?).
Which suggests another question: Do ethics count in a no-win scenario?