Philosophy
With the New York Yankees on the verge of getting eliminated from the post-season and Jeff Maynes teaching an ethics class, we had a chance to think about Schadenfreude...sweet, sweet Schadenfreude.
Surely, from a virtue ethics perspective there is something vicious about Schadenfreude. Being the sort of person who delights in the pain of other humans (for the sake of this question, we'll assume Yankee fans are to be included in this category) certainly shows a flaw that one absolutely would not want to be an entrenched part of one's character.
But this is just a game, indeed, a game that the fans are not even playing. It is a pastime, a diversion, a distraction from the important aspects of life. Does this lack of moral import obviate, even to a degree, the moral problem with Schadenfreude?
Utilitarianism sees the overall effect as morally relevant, but what about questions of virtue? Does being a jerk about something unimportant excuse you at all for being a jerk? Does it make you less of a jerk if people know that morally they can count on you to be serious and upstanding when the chips are really down?
- Comedy Isn't Pretty
My Fellow Comedists, With the arrival of the holiday season come all of the usual entertainment offerings, most of which make my stomach turn. But one that stands out is the up-dated version of A Christmas Carol with Bill Murray, "Scrooged." Murray, a...
- Me And My Uncle: Justice, Irony, And Schadenfreude
One of the pieces in The Grateful Dead and Philosophy that I really love is the one written by own playground playpal Hanno. It's called "Me and My Uncle...and Thomas Hobbes" and examines a question that arises out of the Dead's most performed...
- Utility And Relativism
A couple of ethics questions. Singpr asks, "Is utilitarianism the best available paradigm in evaluating social justice. What's problematic about it?" Utilitarianism is the moral view in which any act X is to be considered morally good if and only...
- Somebody Please Explain Situational Ethics To Me
One of the bogeymen of the right is "situational ethics." I will admit that I haven't a clue what it is they mean. Some mean ethical relativism, and that has its own set of problems, but others clearly intend something else and I'm not sure what...
- Consequentialism, Deontology, And The Aretaic Turn
One debate that has dominated the attention of ethicists in the history of the modern era has been between consequentialism (the idea that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgement about that action) and deontology...
Philosophy
Does Size Matter When It Comes To Virtue Ethics?
With the New York Yankees on the verge of getting eliminated from the post-season and Jeff Maynes teaching an ethics class, we had a chance to think about Schadenfreude...sweet, sweet Schadenfreude.
Surely, from a virtue ethics perspective there is something vicious about Schadenfreude. Being the sort of person who delights in the pain of other humans (for the sake of this question, we'll assume Yankee fans are to be included in this category) certainly shows a flaw that one absolutely would not want to be an entrenched part of one's character.
But this is just a game, indeed, a game that the fans are not even playing. It is a pastime, a diversion, a distraction from the important aspects of life. Does this lack of moral import obviate, even to a degree, the moral problem with Schadenfreude?
Utilitarianism sees the overall effect as morally relevant, but what about questions of virtue? Does being a jerk about something unimportant excuse you at all for being a jerk? Does it make you less of a jerk if people know that morally they can count on you to be serious and upstanding when the chips are really down?
- Comedy Isn't Pretty
My Fellow Comedists, With the arrival of the holiday season come all of the usual entertainment offerings, most of which make my stomach turn. But one that stands out is the up-dated version of A Christmas Carol with Bill Murray, "Scrooged." Murray, a...
- Me And My Uncle: Justice, Irony, And Schadenfreude
One of the pieces in The Grateful Dead and Philosophy that I really love is the one written by own playground playpal Hanno. It's called "Me and My Uncle...and Thomas Hobbes" and examines a question that arises out of the Dead's most performed...
- Utility And Relativism
A couple of ethics questions. Singpr asks, "Is utilitarianism the best available paradigm in evaluating social justice. What's problematic about it?" Utilitarianism is the moral view in which any act X is to be considered morally good if and only...
- Somebody Please Explain Situational Ethics To Me
One of the bogeymen of the right is "situational ethics." I will admit that I haven't a clue what it is they mean. Some mean ethical relativism, and that has its own set of problems, but others clearly intend something else and I'm not sure what...
- Consequentialism, Deontology, And The Aretaic Turn
One debate that has dominated the attention of ethicists in the history of the modern era has been between consequentialism (the idea that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgement about that action) and deontology...