Re:Philosophy vs. ethics
by true_religion on Sunday January 15, 2017 @06:36PM
(#13407143)
Your notion would also extend to saying "Superman is not ethnically required to not punch hole through that building killing everyone inside, it because the average person cannot punch that hard".
It's is as if the claim is someone shouldn't avoid doing harm that their above average abilities offer them?
The authors seems to be saying something dissimilar to that: people should't not be require to do more than average person, even if they have the capability to do so.
Programmers shouldn't be required to perform code for charity for their friends and family. Doctors shouldn't be required to save lifes.
Wow, neither of you actually finished the article. Both of you are claiming the author believes viewpoints that the author presented in order to show problems with them.
Ultimately, the TLS didn't even claim a viewpoint. They merely presented a variety of opinions and critiqued them.
"He excludes from the scope of ethical obligation not just the literally impossible, but also anything that is merely beyond the abilities of the normal person. Ethics cannot tell us to do what would require the impartiality of saints or the foresight of seers."
Superman is not ethically required to save the world from the giant meteor because the average man could not. I, as a professional programmer, am not required to make ethical choices when writing software because the average person cannot write code at all.