What is your own personal philosophy regarding life?

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TM
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15 Apr 2012, 4:41 pm

ruveyn wrote:
abacacus wrote:
TM wrote:
I believe in the Golden Rule, screw over others before they have a chance to screw you over.


"Do unto others before they do unto you."


Hobbes addressed this point. It is this rule that will guarantee life will be nasty, brutish and short.

ruveyn


I know, hence why I live by it and count on most people not doing so.



ruveyn
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15 Apr 2012, 7:38 pm

TM wrote:

I know, hence why I live by it and count on most people not doing so.


Shame on you.

I prefer living according to the (Jewish) Golden Rule. Do not do unto others what you would find hateful if done to you.

ruveyn



Oldout
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16 Apr 2012, 2:21 pm

Of course, one must kill before one is killed.



ArrantPariah
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17 Apr 2012, 6:58 am

TM wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
abacacus wrote:
TM wrote:
I believe in the Golden Rule, screw over others before they have a chance to screw you over.


"Do unto others before they do unto you."


Hobbes addressed this point. It is this rule that will guarantee life will be nasty, brutish and short.

ruveyn


I know, hence why I live by it and count on most people not doing so.


Capitalism at its purest.



CrazyCatLord
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17 Apr 2012, 7:08 am

I don't have much in terms of a life philosophy or moral philosophy and go entirely by instinct. And yet I don't think that I have made an immoral decision in my life as of yet, other perhaps than buying unnecessary gadgets with money that could save people in poorer countries from starving. I'm not sure if that's immoral. It sometimes feels that way.



Subotai
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17 Apr 2012, 7:25 am

I believe in questioning things and following your heart.
Just because everyone else is doing something doesn`t make it right, nor does it make it wrong. I believe that human beings are deeply hypocritical and ignorant, morality is an illusion based off current social conventions and instinct. I believe I and everyone else are in the dark unable to perceive the truth through limited faculties and bias.


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GoonSquad
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17 Apr 2012, 7:49 am

Bear and forbear.


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Declension
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17 Apr 2012, 7:53 am

It's funny, I could say some grand moral principle guides my life, but it doesn't really. I don't often find myself in situations which require serious moral decision-making. I just have a comfortable life which I occasionally sabotage.

I like the idea that the noblest goal of human existence is to fight against entropy. We will lose in the end, but it will be a glorious battle. Making order out of the chaos.



graywyvern
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17 Apr 2012, 11:01 am

i'm an anarchist. i think the world would be better if we were fewer, kinder, & less driven; i think human nature is greatly malleable, & that the experiment of raising children to become nonviolent, uncompetitive adults has yet to be tried. it seems to me that most of our problems are caused by unchecked egotism, ideology often being nothing but its smoke screen. buddhism was right until they turned it into a religion. we should do like the greeks & when a city reached a certain size (30,000?), half of its inhabitants would pack up & move elsewhere. i have lots of other ideas for improving things, but one-child-per-couple would fix about everything else.

neither a leader nor a follower be.


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scubasteve
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17 Apr 2012, 4:10 pm

ArrantPariah wrote:
TM wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
abacacus wrote:
TM wrote:
I believe in the Golden Rule, screw over others before they have a chance to screw you over.


"Do unto others before they do unto you."


Hobbes addressed this point. It is this rule that will guarantee life will be nasty, brutish and short.

ruveyn


I know, hence why I live by it and count on most people not doing so.


Capitalism at its purest.


Oh sure, because commies would never act selfishly :roll:

Here's another quote I live by: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

In other words, people tend to be more grateful if you just give them what they need. But encouraging them to develop their skills and earn what they need will more helpful in the long run. That is capitalism. What you're referring to is selfishness, and you'll find that in any sort of economy.



Last edited by scubasteve on 17 Apr 2012, 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ValentineWiggin
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17 Apr 2012, 4:58 pm

"It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong." - Jeremy Bentham


"The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau


Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results. - Margaret Atwood


States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions. -Noam Chomsky


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Last edited by ValentineWiggin on 17 Apr 2012, 5:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

androbot2084
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17 Apr 2012, 5:05 pm

So my body no longer belongs to me when I join the Borg collective ?



scubasteve
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17 Apr 2012, 5:10 pm

ValentineWiggin wrote:
"...you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody."
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau


What of the fruits of our own labor? If we refine something that came from the Earth, do we not have a claim to it?



ValentineWiggin
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17 Apr 2012, 5:10 pm

androbot2084 wrote:
So my body no longer belongs to me when I join the Borg collective ?


Resistance is futile.


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"Such is the Frailty
of the human Heart, that very few Men, who have no Property, have any Judgment of their own.
They talk and vote as they are directed by Some Man of Property, who has attached their Minds
to his Interest."


androbot2084
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17 Apr 2012, 5:12 pm

So a women's right to choose becomes the collectives right to choose?



ValentineWiggin
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17 Apr 2012, 5:14 pm

scubasteve wrote:
ValentineWiggin wrote:
"...you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody."
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau


What of the fruits of our own labor? If we refine something that came from the Earth, do we not have a claim to it?


Are those separate, in your mind?

You can "claim" all you'd like- whether those claims are justifiable is a matter of opinion.


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"Such is the Frailty
of the human Heart, that very few Men, who have no Property, have any Judgment of their own.
They talk and vote as they are directed by Some Man of Property, who has attached their Minds
to his Interest."