Posted on 09/30/2011 10:48:58 AM PDT by GraceG
Antisocial personality traits predict utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas
A study conducted by Daniel Bartels, Columbia Business School, Marketing, and David Pizarro, Cornell University, Psychology found that people who endorse actions consistent with an ethic of utilitarianism—the view that what is the morally right thing to do is whatever produces the best overall consequences—tend to possess psychopathic and Machiavellian personality traits.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
So is my lack of spelling on the title, ooops.
It’s a disroder like dsylexia.
But seriously, yeah. It is.
But this is not news to Freepers.
Ya know, I get really tired of the whole “does the end justify the means” argument. It’s a phony argument.
Looked at logically, there are two extremist positions. The end always justifies any means. The end never justifies the means.
The problem is that nobody believes either extremist position. With the exception of religious or political fanatics, nobody really believes the end justifies any means whatsoever. In this case, the problem is not that they are making this argument, it’s that they are fanatics.
On the other end of the scale, almost nobody believes the end never justifies the means. I’m opposed to abortion, but there are certain cases where it’s better to lose one life than two. Anybody who believes otherwise is, IMO, a fanatic, again.
Similarly, theft is always wrong, but if I were the first person at a car crash I’d have no problem breaking into a pharmacy to steal first aid supplies to try to save a life.
IOW, the whole ends vs. means argument is a false dichotomy. A good enough means (defense of your country against commie aggression) justifies many means that would otherwise be unjust. Some ends are bad, and even good means are wrong if used to achieve them. And there are many good ends for which a great many means are not justified.
The issue is thus not a black/white one. It’s a sliding scale. Unlike many moral issues, it actually is shades of gray.
Trying to turn it into black vs. white just obscures the real argument: Does THIS end justify THIS means?
Well what we do know is that Dumb0, by his own admission, wasn’t very good at “ethics” in middle school.
Not sure why that doesn’t surprise me in the least.
Liberalism also displays Sociopathic Behavior, such as preferring animals as small as insects over HUMAN BEINGS, where the environment is concerned, Anti-Growth ideas, Destruction of property, widespread abortion which effectively wipes out the next generation, even anti-entrepreneurial behavior such as the current persecution of Gibson Guitars, placing the value of inanimate WOOD over that of Jobs, Beauty, Workmanship, and ART.
The self-hating, contradicting, and hypocritical rants of such “people” as Jeanine Garafolo are a perfect example of this pathology.
Tyranny and leftists are one and the same, check history
All of these are incompatible with the natural rights ethics of the Founding Fathers.
Liberals hate “judgement” of their psychopathic mentality and actions. That is the biggest sin in liberalism and they call it “discrimination.”
As far as being will to kill innocent people for an ideological or environmental goal, watermelons are some of the most dangerous. But right up there are the health care rationers who desire to sit on the socialist throne to decide what innocent people will live and who will the government will kill.
Another interesting mentality is that of the liberals and open borders. They sacrifice the lives and fortunes of citizens for a self serving goal.
Ping of interest.
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