I've decided to quantify some ethics with which I will lead my life. This is a big day for me, because for years, I haven't really believed in anything. While this was somewhat freeing, it was mostly frustrating. Thus, I've decided to sit down, and think up a set of ethics. Here is what I've come up with so far.
I'm just starting out here, so some of these aren't too clearly thought out. This will expand and grow over time. Comments are greatly appreciated.
The goal here is to develop a set of ethics that I can support mostly unconditionally, and don't feel bad about doing so.
I understand that the ethics here are built on unstated assumptions. One of the ultimate goals of this project is to quantify these unstated assumptions, and develop a consistent set of ethics through which I can lead my life.
I also understand that some of the ethics proposed here may sound trite or frivolous. This ethics list has a bit of frivolity to it, but the point is to come up with mostly unarguable ethics. I understand that no ethics can be truly unarguable, but down that path lies nihilism and a void, within which are no answers. Thus, I take these ethics seriously.
In the following, so that I do not become entrenched in thoughts about semantics, I use words with their definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary, with the following clarifications. (A goal here is to reduce the number of clarifications to as near zero as possible, to create a set of ethics which stand alone. Perhaps one day this will be possible.)
Note that as I write this, I do not look every word in the OED. Thus, I may be mistaken about some definitions. If you see something which may be an error, contact me, and I'll correct it or clarify things..
As I derive ethics, my understanding of the bases of my ethics is growing. This section describes basic principles upon which the ethics are founded.
We can debate this endlessly, round and round, but the only reasonable understanding of the meaning, or point, of life is to be happy. If nothing else, this purpose will make your own life happy.
Note that this does not mean "immediate gratification above all else", or any variation. It is likely that the meaning of happiness changes from person to person, and each person should be able to come to their own conclusions. For myself, long-term satisfaction with life, and instant gratification play complimentary roles.
This isn't extremely well thought out, yet.
This is a wierd one, because it cannot be absolutely applied. There is a constant balance which must be met between one's own happiness, and the happiness of others. Either extreme has bad consequences, typically for all concerned.
This is a superset of the common ethical basis: "don't hurt other people". One can think of being unhappy as the basis for being hurt. If getting your leg chewed off by a tiger makes one unhappy, then it is a hurt. If it makes one happy (and God knows that there are probably people out there that would like it), then it's difficult to defend it being a hurt.
This is not directly tied to ethics, as the punishments for performing acts should not be foremost in your mind when choosing whether an act is ethical (in most cases -- I know that sometimes, the punishments can make an act unethical or ethical based on their consequences to other people, but I'd rather not be bogged down in silly edge conditions in this document).
Something that I've believed for a long time (perhaps without justification) is that if you are willing to accept the consequences of your actions, if those consequences do not bother you, your actions may be more excusable. Is this true? Perhaps. I think that there is something here, I'm just not sure what it is.
An interesting note is that I don't think, necessarily, that killing people is ethically wrong. It is a wierd case: I don't believe in an afterlife, particularly, and once somebody is dead, it seems that the fact that he was killed no longer matters to him. It is simply a case of removing somebody from the world. As long as the death itself is not overly unpleasant, the only thing that should be considered is the effect the death has on other people, because the dead guy isn't worrying about it anymore.
Note that I strongly believe that killing should be illegal. Laws and ethics are not synonymous. Laws are meant to make society run smoothly, ethics are more personal: intended to extend beyond laws, and make life more pleasant for those in contact with you. Many things that are unethical probably should not be illegal, and some, like murder, should be illegal, even though they are unethical.
The main reason that I believe murder should be illegal is that it is unpleasant to live in a society where you can be murdered all the time. The main reason I believe murder is not unethical is that I do not wish to preclude the possibility that some people deserve killing, perhaps murderers themselves, people who have done you inexcusable wrong, and the like.
The justification here is that killing large numbers of people, against their will, for reasons which have nothing to do with your individual relationship between yourself and the individuals you are killing, is unpardonable.
I can think of no mitigating circumstances. Racial hatred is something which I cannot understand or appreciate, when it is brought to these extremes.
This is wrong because you are creating chemical dependencies in people who might have the willpower to avoid the drugs, but not the willpower to stop, once addicted.
Drugs, in and of themselves, are not necessarily bad: it is clear that they can be used responsibly by people. However, if you choose a person who does not wish to be an addict, and force him to be, you have no reason to suspect that this will make his life a better place: many people's lives are destroyed by drugs. It is not your place to choose for him or her.
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