I think I agree with what you’re saying for the most part. If your goal is, say, reducing suffering, then you have to consider the best way of convincing others to share your goal. If you started killing people who ran factory farms, you’re probably going to turn a lot of the world against you, and so fail in your goal. And, you have to consider the best way of convincing yourself to continue performing your goal, now and into the future, since humans goals can change depending on circumstances and experiences.
In terms of guilt, finding little tricks to rid yourself of guilt for various things probably isn’t a good way to make you continue caring and doing as much as you can for a certain issue. I can know that something is wrong, but if I don’t feel guilty about doing nothing, I’m probably not going to exert myself as hard in trying to fix it. If I can tell myself “I didn’t do it, therefore it’s none of my concern, even though it is technically a bad thing” and absolve myself of guilt, it’s simply going to make me less likely to do anything about the issue.
In terms of guilt, finding little tricks to rid yourself of guilt for various things probably isn’t a good way to make you continue caring and doing as much as you can for a certain issue. I can know that something is wrong, but if I don’t feel guilty about doing nothing, I’m probably not going to exert myself as hard in trying to fix it. If I can tell myself “I didn’t do it, therefore it’s none of my concern, even though it is technically a bad thing” and absolve myself of guilt, it’s simply going to make me less likely to do anything about the issue.
Ah, I assumed the guilt would demotivate on net. Maybe it depends on how strongly you identify with utilitarian ideas.
I think I agree with what you’re saying for the most part. If your goal is, say, reducing suffering, then you have to consider the best way of convincing others to share your goal. If you started killing people who ran factory farms, you’re probably going to turn a lot of the world against you, and so fail in your goal. And, you have to consider the best way of convincing yourself to continue performing your goal, now and into the future, since humans goals can change depending on circumstances and experiences.
In terms of guilt, finding little tricks to rid yourself of guilt for various things probably isn’t a good way to make you continue caring and doing as much as you can for a certain issue. I can know that something is wrong, but if I don’t feel guilty about doing nothing, I’m probably not going to exert myself as hard in trying to fix it. If I can tell myself “I didn’t do it, therefore it’s none of my concern, even though it is technically a bad thing” and absolve myself of guilt, it’s simply going to make me less likely to do anything about the issue.
Ah, I assumed the guilt would demotivate on net. Maybe it depends on how strongly you identify with utilitarian ideas.