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Re:Do we have a moral obligation to society? by InclinedPlane on Saturday November 03, 2012 @01:07PM (#4737160)
Obligation? No, not as such. And falling victim to those ideas is hugely dangerous. The idea that we are not or should not be our own masters, that we should dedicate ourselves to service to our communities and so forth is an entrancing idea, but it is mistaken. Wanting to give back to your community is good, and noble, but being obligated to do so is a recipe for tragedy.

In the end it comes around to the same old thing: the institutionalization of morality. Which inevitably leads to obligatory orthodoxy. It's important that people have differing opinions in society, even down to ideas on morality. It's also important, so we have learned, that the strict obligation of society be limited to just those things which are strictly necessary to enable society to operate.

There was a time not long ago when being a member of a specific state religion was mandatory, and enforced. It was a time of oppression and orthodoxy where free-thinking and individual liberty were limited, and progress was stunted. There have been more recent times where similar institutionalized, obligatory morality has gained traction (under various ideological banners) and those too were times of oppression, orthodoxy, suffering, and stunted progress. It doesn't work. Obligation-to-society is merely the first brick to be used to pave the road of good intentions that leads from individual liberty to rule and oppression.

Societies were individuals express their feelings of community spirit and care through spontaneous and personal gifts of time, money, and effort are healthy. Societies where a moral obligation to society is strictly enforced are regressive and tragic.

Re:Do we have a moral obligation to society? by jt2190 on Saturday November 03, 2012 @01:23PM (#4737222)

  > In the end it comes around to the same old thing: 
  > the institutionalization of morality
Can you elaborate? At no point did the article make the leap that a moral obligation be forced on individuals by an outside body. From the article:

  > I have the skills to help other people out but instead 
  > I’m running a startup and writing on my blog. Should I
  > feel guilty? Do I have a moral obligation to use my
  > engineering skills to give back to the world 
  > in a bigger way?
How is this kind of self-examination "hugely dangerous"?