Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Marcinkiewicz
It's neither a feature nor a bug objectively, and subjectively, it can trend feature for some and trend bug for others. The problem as I see it is that ultimately there are as many ethical systems as there are people in the world, and never ever knowing or being able to know the other ethical systems in existence is a source of angst for me. It's a lot easier to pretend (or truly think) everyone is the same.
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I think everyone is not the same, yet similar enough for practical purposes. And there is a more defined ethical system that coalesces in realtime for a given society.
Everything is contextual, and ethical systems that make the best sense are relative to a particular culture, time, and set of circumstances. Take any Western society, I think, and present it with the same scenario, and you'll get similar ethical judgments from all. I find that sufficient.
Now on another level, I'm with you -- I find sussing out Other People's expectations and perceptions and how they will react to them, to be a source of constant bafflement, to the point that in large measure I've ceased to care. I in fact find it positively enraging that Other People get to decide what I think and feel and what my motivations are, mostly without at all consulting the only person who actually knows: me. And often when they do, they don't believe what I say if, as is often the case, the information I provide runs counter to their already-settled prejudgements. Happens on forums like this all the time when theists come in telling atheists what they believe / claim to know and why and their feelings and motivations and a host of other things that they no exactly zero about on the cumulative, much less the individual, level. Zero epistemological humility and complete uncritical swallowing of stereotypical narratives they've been primed with.
That IS a practical problem, although I recognize that it's made worse in my case because as an introvert with some very mild autistic leanings, I do not have the "social curb sensors" that some people do to properly intuit social cues and so adequately pre-telegraph and reinforce my intentions -- so it's mutual; they don't "get" me anymore than I "get" them. I see this as my problem, though, not a problem with how reality works.
Are there really as many ethical systems as there are people in the world? I think there are that many
understandings of ethical systems, but not that many ethical systems. It's like how there are not that many movie plots, they all follow a relative handful of archetypes, with some variables set differently, which individuals respond to as they will.
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