Self-Sacrifice

May 27, 2009 14:19

Sometimes I worry that self-sacrificial acts are the only charitable acts I thoroughly respect. I see this as problematic.

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1tophi May 28 2009, 10:38:45 UTC
Right, it's a form of the "There are no truly selfless acts." argument. I know what you're talking about. My problem is that I feel like I should respect even mildly selfless acts at least a little bit more than I already do. See below for further information.

P.S. I'd hoped you'd respond.

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stormchaserchic May 28 2009, 03:31:21 UTC
but love, you don't believe in truly self-sacrificial acts anyway, so don't worry.

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1tophi May 28 2009, 10:35:06 UTC
It's true that I don't believe in purely self-sacrificial acts. However, here, I'd like to note that the level/amount of self-sacrifice of an act is roughly correlative with how much I respect it. Clearly, some acts require some level of sacrifice. Roughly, therefore, suicide for the sake of saving society to save on the cost of one's resources would be a superlatively respect-worthy. My favorite hypothetical situation here is where one non-Aeneas person makes a deal to sell his soul (go to hell) for guaranteed > 1 person admission into a non-hell afterlife.

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1tophi May 28 2009, 10:46:44 UTC
You can see how this is absurd in a way. I mean, I know it kinda makes sense. But it's so darned skeptical!

P.S. Amy, how do you feel about meeting in Santa Cruz on whenever the hottest Saturday this summer is supposed to be? I want to take everyone to this place called The Garden of Eden. The spot that I know has a little sandy island in the middle of a shallow river, a beach, and a good spot to go rock jumping.

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stormchaserchic May 28 2009, 13:48:56 UTC
sounds fun, lemmie know when!

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