Quote:
Originally Posted by barryem
I'm not sure how this applies to the discussion at hand but even if it somehow does, I don't think your logic quite works. Breaking into your neighbor's house to steal their goods is not ethical behavior. However, having done that unethical theft and now having their stolen goods, is it more ethical to keep them or share them with your friends?
Yes I do think I'm stretching things a bit here but one good stretch deserves another. 
Barry |
I do think you are stretching things a bit, Barry. The problem with your argument as I see it is that you are trying to defend an absolute, that is, that sharing something with your friends is always ethical. To do so in the case of the example I gave, you seek to separate the theft from the sharing, when the two are related in at least the fact that you are the perpetrator of both. One scenario is that the theft was committed with the specific intention of not only obtaining the goods for yourself but of sharing them with your friends, which even futrther connects the actions whieh you seek to separate. Or what about sharing your gun with your hitman friend so he can use it on his next job?
Your initial premise, that sharing with your friends is always ethical, simply does not hold water. This undermines the foundation of your further reasoning. In fact, I suspect you may be putting this position tongue in cheek, so to speak, as it has proved to be a catalyst for further discussion.