What really goes on, I think for most people and certainly myself, is compartmentalization. I understand certain things to be ethical and others to be unethical, and when it comes time to make a decision (eating meat, for instance) that question is entirely neglected, or skimmed over.
Now, clearly animal suffering is something I don’t really care about. But that doesn’t mean I have any argument or foundation for believing that it is legitimately unimportant. I think this is much truer for an issue I care more about (but not enough to act fully ethically), poverty and altruism. I know that people across the world are impovershed and could benefit from my altruism more than I will benefit from something frivolous and overpriced I might buy instead. But I may still buy the frivolous thing at times.
And all but the most committed people will behave this way most of the time; they will not even earnestly try to behave ethically, but instead behave conveniently.
One possibility is that you forget that utilitarianism is correct every time you have the opportunity to buy or eat meat, but this seems unlikely. Another possibility is that you forget that meat-eating is bad from a utilitarian perspective when you have an opportunity to eat meat, but this is also unlikely.
Yes, these are both unlikely, but replace “forget” with “habitually conspire with myself to forget/ignore/brush off”.
Think of it this way: Whether someone sticks to a diet (for heatlh, let’s say, and not vegetarianism) or not is partly a matter of belief in the importance of the diet, but it is also partly a matter of habit, convenience, impulse and opportunity. The same is true for when we follow our ethical beliefs.
Compartmentalization does make it sound that you forget that eating meat is unethical when it’s decision time.
Now, clearly animal suffering is something I don’t really care about. But that doesn’t mean I have any argument or foundation for believing that it is legitimately unimportant.
Do you need an argument for believing it’s legitimately unimportant? Why not just say that it’s an arbitrary taste? The same goes for altruism—other people may benefit more from your money than you do, but, you don’t care nearly as much about them as you care about yourself. Utilitarianism says that’s wrong, but why should you think that utilitarianism is correct?
As for diets, when someone develops habits that maintain a diet, it’s because they believe that diet to be correct.
You are right that tastes are a deciding factor, but you’re taking it too far. According to you it impossible to act unethically, and/or your personal ethics must be consistently determined by your actions. I can essentially behave entirely arbitrarily and to you I will be obeying my own true code of ethics.
A big part of what this site addresses is how humans are inconsistent, irrational, and self-deceiving and short-termist. Can we at least agree that there are moments when people take actions that are more inconsistent, irrational and self-deceiving and moments when their actions are better-harmonized with their stated/aspirational goals and beliefs?
And can we agree that if I believe, as most reasonable people to, that irrational anger is bad, yet I flip someone off in a bout of road rage, it’s possible I’m failing to live up to a consistent set of beliefs which I legitimately care about, rather than my stated beliefs being a veneer over my true, sometimes-road-raging beliefs?
And if you’ve ever been on a diet or known people on a diet, you know that circumstance and external factors (say, trainer or family support, distance to the nearest grocery store vs. nearest fast food place) make a huge difference on adherence, even when there’s no clear tie between those things and how correct the person believes the diet to be?
According to you it impossible to act unethically, and/or your personal ethics must be consistently determined by your actions. I can essentially behave entirely arbitrarily and to you I will be obeying my own true code of ethics.
Not at all. It’s certainly possible to act unethically, such as if you’re inconsistent, or if you have mistaken beliefs about what’s ethical. What you can’t do is intentionally do something while consciously thinking that it’s unethical. For example, you can’t think “I’ll torture these children, even though torturing children is wrong”—not if you believe that torturing children is wrong.
It is true that people are sometimes inconsistent because sometimes they act according to their habits instead of deliberately, or because strong emotions overwhelm them and they forget to do what they believe to be correct. But if that were the main explanation for why people don’t always do what they believe to be right, I would expect people to have the feeling of “Oops, I forgot! and messed up” more often than they seem to. Instead, something like “It’s wrong, but I’m going to do it anyway” seems to be more common, which implies that they don’t really think it’s wrong.
What really goes on, I think for most people and certainly myself, is compartmentalization. I understand certain things to be ethical and others to be unethical, and when it comes time to make a decision (eating meat, for instance) that question is entirely neglected, or skimmed over.
Now, clearly animal suffering is something I don’t really care about. But that doesn’t mean I have any argument or foundation for believing that it is legitimately unimportant. I think this is much truer for an issue I care more about (but not enough to act fully ethically), poverty and altruism. I know that people across the world are impovershed and could benefit from my altruism more than I will benefit from something frivolous and overpriced I might buy instead. But I may still buy the frivolous thing at times.
And all but the most committed people will behave this way most of the time; they will not even earnestly try to behave ethically, but instead behave conveniently.
Yes, these are both unlikely, but replace “forget” with “habitually conspire with myself to forget/ignore/brush off”.
Think of it this way: Whether someone sticks to a diet (for heatlh, let’s say, and not vegetarianism) or not is partly a matter of belief in the importance of the diet, but it is also partly a matter of habit, convenience, impulse and opportunity. The same is true for when we follow our ethical beliefs.
Compartmentalization does make it sound that you forget that eating meat is unethical when it’s decision time.
Do you need an argument for believing it’s legitimately unimportant? Why not just say that it’s an arbitrary taste? The same goes for altruism—other people may benefit more from your money than you do, but, you don’t care nearly as much about them as you care about yourself. Utilitarianism says that’s wrong, but why should you think that utilitarianism is correct?
As for diets, when someone develops habits that maintain a diet, it’s because they believe that diet to be correct.
You are right that tastes are a deciding factor, but you’re taking it too far. According to you it impossible to act unethically, and/or your personal ethics must be consistently determined by your actions. I can essentially behave entirely arbitrarily and to you I will be obeying my own true code of ethics.
A big part of what this site addresses is how humans are inconsistent, irrational, and self-deceiving and short-termist. Can we at least agree that there are moments when people take actions that are more inconsistent, irrational and self-deceiving and moments when their actions are better-harmonized with their stated/aspirational goals and beliefs?
And can we agree that if I believe, as most reasonable people to, that irrational anger is bad, yet I flip someone off in a bout of road rage, it’s possible I’m failing to live up to a consistent set of beliefs which I legitimately care about, rather than my stated beliefs being a veneer over my true, sometimes-road-raging beliefs?
And if you’ve ever been on a diet or known people on a diet, you know that circumstance and external factors (say, trainer or family support, distance to the nearest grocery store vs. nearest fast food place) make a huge difference on adherence, even when there’s no clear tie between those things and how correct the person believes the diet to be?
Not at all. It’s certainly possible to act unethically, such as if you’re inconsistent, or if you have mistaken beliefs about what’s ethical. What you can’t do is intentionally do something while consciously thinking that it’s unethical. For example, you can’t think “I’ll torture these children, even though torturing children is wrong”—not if you believe that torturing children is wrong.
It is true that people are sometimes inconsistent because sometimes they act according to their habits instead of deliberately, or because strong emotions overwhelm them and they forget to do what they believe to be correct. But if that were the main explanation for why people don’t always do what they believe to be right, I would expect people to have the feeling of “Oops, I forgot! and messed up” more often than they seem to. Instead, something like “It’s wrong, but I’m going to do it anyway” seems to be more common, which implies that they don’t really think it’s wrong.