(Splitting replies on different parts into different subthreads.)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I hear you say that your sense of horror is load-bearing, that you would take worse actions if you did not feel a constant anguish over the suffering that is happening.
That could be true for you, but it seems counter to the way most people work. Constant anguish tends not to motivate, it instead leads to psychological collapse, or to frantic measures when patience would achieve more, or to protected beliefs that resist challenge in any small part.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I hear you say that your sense of horror is load-bearing, that you would take worse actions if you did not feel a constant anguish over the suffering that is happening.
Load-bearing horror != constant anguish. There are ways to have an intuitively low zero point measure of the world that don’t lead to constant anguish. Other than that, I agree with you—constant anguish is bad. The extent of my ethics-related anguish is probably more along the lines of 2-3 hour blocks of periodic frustration that happen every couple weeks.
That could be true for you, but it seems counter to the way most people work. Constant anguish tends not to motivate, it instead leads to psychological collapse, or to frantic measures when patience would achieve more, or to protected beliefs that resist challenge in any small part.
Yeah, this is my experience with constant anguish as well (though the root cause of that was more school-related than anything else). I agree with your characterization (and as a mildly self-interested person), I also don’t really think its reasonable to demand that people be in constant anguish at all—regardless of the utilitarian consequences.
To play Devil’s Advocate though, I (and many others) are not in the class of people who’s psychological wellbeing or decision-making skills actually much contribute to ethical improvement at all; we’re in the class of people who donate money. Unless the anguish of someone in this class is strong enough to impede wealth accumulation toward donating (which it basically can’t once you have enough money that your stock market returns compete with your income), there’s not really a reason to limit it.
(Splitting replies on different parts into different subthreads.)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I hear you say that your sense of horror is load-bearing, that you would take worse actions if you did not feel a constant anguish over the suffering that is happening.
That could be true for you, but it seems counter to the way most people work. Constant anguish tends not to motivate, it instead leads to psychological collapse, or to frantic measures when patience would achieve more, or to protected beliefs that resist challenge in any small part.
Load-bearing horror != constant anguish. There are ways to have an intuitively low zero point measure of the world that don’t lead to constant anguish. Other than that, I agree with you—constant anguish is bad. The extent of my ethics-related anguish is probably more along the lines of 2-3 hour blocks of periodic frustration that happen every couple weeks.
Yeah, this is my experience with constant anguish as well (though the root cause of that was more school-related than anything else). I agree with your characterization (and as a mildly self-interested person), I also don’t really think its reasonable to demand that people be in constant anguish at all—regardless of the utilitarian consequences.
To play Devil’s Advocate though, I (and many others) are not in the class of people who’s psychological wellbeing or decision-making skills actually much contribute to ethical improvement at all; we’re in the class of people who donate money. Unless the anguish of someone in this class is strong enough to impede wealth accumulation toward donating (which it basically can’t once you have enough money that your stock market returns compete with your income), there’s not really a reason to limit it.