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Originally Posted by sirbruce
If you rationalize it away, then you don't think it is wrong.
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Not techniquely correct.
You only rationalise something away when you know or at least feel it to be wrong. If you did not feel it was wrong at all then you would feel no need to rationalise it as it was not wrong in the first place.
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Originally Posted by sirbruce
You're confusing wrong with wrong. Or put another way, you're confusing something that might be a bad idea with something that is immoral. I don't think rational people regularly (perhaps ever) intentionally commit an act they personally believe is immoral. Now, they can recognize their act as having possible negative consequences; they might even believe that as a general rule it's not something other people should do. But the whole point of rationalization is to enable one to do what they otherwise would not; if they still thought what they did was really wrong then the rationalization serves no purpose. Oh, when you ask it they may say it was wrong, but that's purely for social convenience.
A possible exception might be if the act is technically immoral but does little harm; in that case I think it's possible to live with one's actions. But to do something that's really in your mind immoral, knowingly, with full awareness of the damage it does? That's antisocial psychotic disorder. If you're not already crazy, the guilt afterwards will make you so. (And has done so with many people.)
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Do people ever lie, even lie about big things and convince themselves it is in the best interests of the other person that they be kept from the truth or that it isn't really a lie because of some sort of technicality?
Do they ever have affairs and convince themselves it isn't wrong because their current relationship isn't working anyway?
Do people never steal and proclaim it ok because they are really just redistributing the wealth of a capitalist and unfair society?
Do you really think people think these things are ok? That people think these things are not wrong in some way? Or do you think only people with an antisocial psychotic disorder do such things?
Maybe in a perfect world people would not do such things because their own moral compass prevents them but the reality is entirely different.
I'm not saying piracy is on par with any of the above. However, thinking the taking advantage of another persons time and effort without fair recompense for said time and effort as being ok, for whatever reason, is simply a rationalisation. I think anyone who tries to rationalise that behaviour as ok knows on some level that it isn't. They know that if the roles were reversed they would not feel it is ok to take advantage of their own time and effort with compensating them for it.
Cheers,
PKFFW