Philosophy
Happy New Year everyone!
So, you take this opportunity to make a New Years' resolution and a day, a week, a month later you break it. Where's the problem?
A resolution is a promise to yourself. Breaking a promise is going back on your word and this is morally forbidden. Of course, one also has the power to forgive contracts, if one is owed. If you have borrowed $20 from me, I have the right to demand back the money, but also the right to nullify the deal, to say, "Ahh, don't worry about it. Keep it." In the case of a resolution, you are both the maker and recipient of the promise.
In breaking the resolution, have you forgiven the obligation to yourself that you incurred? Is the problem that you've broken it without such a forgiveness? Is that even possible?
- New Year's Resolutions (for Somebody Else)
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Eddie Izzard has a bit where he argues that there could never be an effective Inquisition from the Anglican Church because "cake or death?" would not be a difficult question. But apparently marriage or death is a tricky one for the Catholic Church, or...
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A friend of mine is an administrator and we got to talking about the conundrums that can surface regarding listing someone in the bcc: slot, the blind courtesy copy (or for those old enough to remember carbon paper -- the blind carbon copy). The idea...
- Isabel Behncke - Evolution's Gift Of Play, From Bonobos To Humans
When you compare the regular chimpanzee and the bonobo, one of the most striking differences is the presence of sometimes incredible violence in the former and the complete absence of it in the latter (at least as far as we have been able to observe over...
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Philosophy
The Moral Status of Resolutions
Happy New Year everyone!
So, you take this opportunity to make a New Years' resolution and a day, a week, a month later you break it. Where's the problem?
A resolution is a promise to yourself. Breaking a promise is going back on your word and this is morally forbidden. Of course, one also has the power to forgive contracts, if one is owed. If you have borrowed $20 from me, I have the right to demand back the money, but also the right to nullify the deal, to say, "Ahh, don't worry about it. Keep it." In the case of a resolution, you are both the maker and recipient of the promise.
In breaking the resolution, have you forgiven the obligation to yourself that you incurred? Is the problem that you've broken it without such a forgiveness? Is that even possible?
- New Year's Resolutions (for Somebody Else)
Happy New Year! A happy and healthy 2012 to everyone! With the fresh, clean year comes a chance to start anew, to make changes, to make those improvements that bring our actual selves more in line with our potential selves. And thus we make the new year's...
- Death Over Marriage
Eddie Izzard has a bit where he argues that there could never be an effective Inquisition from the Anglican Church because "cake or death?" would not be a difficult question. But apparently marriage or death is a tricky one for the Catholic Church, or...
- E-mail And Moral Luck
A friend of mine is an administrator and we got to talking about the conundrums that can surface regarding listing someone in the bcc: slot, the blind courtesy copy (or for those old enough to remember carbon paper -- the blind carbon copy). The idea...
- Isabel Behncke - Evolution's Gift Of Play, From Bonobos To Humans
When you compare the regular chimpanzee and the bonobo, one of the most striking differences is the presence of sometimes incredible violence in the former and the complete absence of it in the latter (at least as far as we have been able to observe over...
- Pluto Fizzled At Iau's Rio Meeting
The IAU's Rio meeting never discussed the sensitive issue of Pluto's status. "Pluto still not a planet after astronomy meeting" by Dan Vergano August 13th, 2009 USA Today An international astronomy meeting ended Thursday in Rio de Janeiro,...