Amorality / Self Interest

TheGreasyPole · 2015-10-07T15:05:17+00:00

If you could make a lot of money doing something that was harmful to society, but would have no consequences on you, would you do it?

It depends. On how much it harms society. Whether I have to live in that society. And how much money is available for doing it.

So.... Right now.... I could ring up the tax office and say "Would you mind if I sent you over £10k extra in taxes, just out of the goodness of my heart" and they'd say "Sure".

Every day I don't make that phone call, and I profit from that, and society loses.

I'm kinda comfortable with that.

What kind of thing did you have in mind ?

Why or why not?

Thats going to depend on what I am doing isn't it ?

Is there anything wrong with someone who would pursue self interest at the cost of society/others?

Nope. When every single one of us fails to make that call to the tax office.... Thats what every single one of us is doing.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with that at all.

If so, what?

Well, so far.... Nothing. I'm kinda happy with it as I've defined it so far.

Would you like to introduce a specific scenario ?

Atlas_B_Shruggin · 2015-10-07T14:20:47+00:00

What's "society"?

TheNicestDouchebag · 2015-10-07T14:28:33+00:00

I worked at McDonald's in high school. Greasy fast food makes people fat. Does that count?

In all seriousness I wouldn't want to harm people just to make money. I'd rather help people.

Atlas_B_Shruggin · 2015-10-07T14:49:44+00:00

Can you explain what a "thing that would harm 'society'" might be?

edit:

make a lot of money doing something that was harmful to society, but would have no consequences on you, would you do it

what is an example of this thing?

dreckmal · 2015-10-07T14:57:45+00:00

Dude...

We were just talking about this over here.

What do you think about it? Or are you trying to get a group consensus before you form an opinion on it?

The big problem with your question here, is that it relies entirely upon the perspective of the person answering it. How do you determine what is 'harmful' to society?

And how can you take an action that has no consequences? Do you mean there are no 'negative' personal consequence?

wtknight · 2015-10-07T15:30:01+00:00

I wouldn't do it because I wouldn't want somebody else to do the same thing to me.

relationshipdownvote · 2015-10-07T14:19:50+00:00

Is this PurplePillDebate or CapitalismDebate?

SirNemesis · 2015-10-07T15:05:22+00:00

No, because I have a moronic conscience.

There is something wrong with society if hurting society/others is in someone's self-interest. Harming society/others needs to be sufficiently punished that it is not in one's self-interest; i.e. the punishment should be worse than the rewards.

grendalor · 2015-10-07T15:12:35+00:00

Legal or illegal?

Cruel_Man · 2015-10-07T14:31:58+00:00

In this simple construction, no - as far as I am concerned that's unethical.

In reality, things are much more complex, so I am not sure how you would apply this. I can make a lot of money by selling others' possessions, but that's unethical so I don't, regardless of the law.

Conversely, I can make a lot of money on oil stock dividends (well, I could... Still can, depending) but despite an environmentalist complaining about it because of their half-formed morality, it is not unethical.

I do many self-interested things that some believe harms society because I believe either there is a comparable benefit or the harm is overstated.

For this reason, I don't think your construction is useful. You will have to be more specific.

rulenumber303 · 2015-10-07T16:34:52+00:00

Depends upon a lot of the nuances of the harm. I worked for a fast food chain for quite a few years in my teens, I knew that shit was killing people. Must have poured swimming pools worth of soda. So I'd be willing to do certain sorts of harmful stuff for minimum wage. I probably wouldn't be willing to dump toxic waste as a job or business, but if I say, for example, bought a property and found a barrel of toxic waste on it that would cost $10,000 to dispose of then shit yeah I'd move that barrel to some public land. Is complicated.

taiboworks · 2015-10-07T17:11:30+00:00

If you could make a lot of money doing something that was harmful to society (like dumping toxic waste that was harmful to the environment), but would have no consequences on you, would you do it?

Yes.

Why or why not?

Because I'd make a lot of money.

Is there anything wrong with someone who would pursue self interest at the cost of society/others?

No. It's not the responsibility of the individual to look out for "society." That's the job of the government and the police, at least in theory. The individual's job is to do the best for the individual.

trp132 · 2015-10-07T20:14:52+00:00

If you could make a lot of money doing something that was harmful to society (like dumping toxic waste that was harmful to the environment), but would have no consequences on you, would you do it? Why or why not?

No. Non-aggression principle applies. Dumping toxic waste that is harmful to other people (especially on property that I do not own) is immoral because it hurts other people against their will.

Is there anything wrong with someone who would pursue self interest at the cost of society/others? If so, what?

Yes, that's basically the definition of morality. Do unto others, etc. the NAP puts it as "Don't use coercion or violence"

chloe1204 · 2015-10-08T04:06:04+00:00

I can't say I am so desperate living in a western country in 2015 I would ever feel the need to do that. Maybe if I was caught in extreme poverty which it seemed like the only way out I could feel pressured into doing such a thing, but I would not feel good about it and it would weigh heavily on my conscience.

Xemnas81 · 2015-10-07T14:18:49+00:00

Depends how harmful and to whom.

I would gladly do something which was harmful to and financially drained corrupt government. I would not gladly do something which hurt children.

alreadyredschool · 2015-10-07T14:44:02+00:00

This sounds exactly like the appeal to morality.

"No boss, don't seal that deal it will decrease the life quality in that area immensely" "Hmm, good point, but on the other hand I will make immense profit, let's do it"

As usual, if nobody would do something that is bad for society we all would have it better. If one decides to be selfish he/she has a huge advantage against the others. If society would actually punish opportunists there wouldn't be a problem. However this is wishful thinking about some ideal utopia, realism > idealism.

To answer you question: No.

Will I still do it by not knowing everything? Sure.

Title	Amorality / Self Interest
Author	taiboworks
Upvotes	6
Comments	126
Date	October 7, 2015 2:14 PM UTC (10 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/3nud03/amorality_self_interest/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/amorality-self-interest.279216 https://theredarchive.com/post/279216

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