Justice—The quality of being “just” or “fair”. Humans call a situation fair when everyone involved is happy afterwards, without having had their desires forcibly thwarted (e.g. being strapped into a chair and hooked into a morphine drip) along the way.
Mercy—Compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power. Humans choose to engage in actions characterized this way on a daily basis.
Duty—Something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation. Legal duties certainly exist; Earth is not an anarchy.
Justice, mercy, and duty are only words. The important question to ask is whether or not they are useful. I certainly think they are; I use each of those words at least once a week. Once the symbols have been replaced by substance, it is clear that we should not be looking for those things in single atoms, but very large collections of them we call “humans”, or slightly smaller (but still very large) collections we call “human brains”.
And as far as we know, atoms are not arranged in configurations that have the properties we ascribe to the tooth fairy.
Justice—The quality of being “just” or “fair”. Humans call a situation fair when everyone involved is happy afterwards, without having had their desires forcibly thwarted (e.g. being strapped into a chair and hooked into a morphine drip) along the way.
Mercy—Compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power. Humans choose to engage in actions characterized this way on a daily basis.
Duty—Something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation. Legal duties certainly exist; Earth is not an anarchy.
Justice, mercy, and duty are only words. The important question to ask is whether or not they are useful. I certainly think they are; I use each of those words at least once a week. Once the symbols have been replaced by substance, it is clear that we should not be looking for those things in single atoms, but very large collections of them we call “humans”, or slightly smaller (but still very large) collections we call “human brains”.
And as far as we know, atoms are not arranged in configurations that have the properties we ascribe to the tooth fairy.