Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
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.
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I think you're stretching what I'm saying way out of proportion and turning it into things I'm not saying at all.
First, underlying everything I've been saying is that there are no absolutes in this sort of thing. We should follow our conscience. If you think it's wrong to lend a book you shouldn't lend it. In most cases I don't think it's wrong so I should lend it. There are lots of exceptions and I've stated a few. I wouldn't lend a book to someone I thought was going to distribute it to pirate sites. I might lend a book to someone who also might lend it to a friend but the people I share books with don't have that ability so that isn't something I've had to deal with.
Second, you're equating my lending of a book that I purchased legally to breaking into someone's house and stealing their goods. They're not the same thing. I buy nearly all my books from Amazon. I pay for them with real money. I feel entitled to lend them.
Notice that I didn't say I'm legally entitled to lend them. Of course I'm not. But lending a book I paid for feels right to me. That's true even if the seller says I only paid for the right to read that book. He's simply mistaken.
Barry