I like the criteria above. If people on one side are arguing that x is “necessary” and people on the other are arguing that x is “horrible”, then it should be clear that x is horrible and something should be done about it. (make x less horrible, find an alternative to x, remove whatever makes x necessary)
Applies well to things like medical testing on animals, prisons, and death.
This is interesting. I was going to offer what I thought were counterexamples, such as abortion, masturbation, and drug use, but now I’m not so sure.
For one thing, the “something” that should be done might simply be to prevent anyone from feeling horror (such as for masturbation) and for another it seems that there should be ways to mitigate the negative consequences of ‘horrible’ things (such as for abortion, by transferring an unwanted fetus to an artificial womb for adoption, or deliberately mitigating the unwanted side effects of drugs).
I like the criteria above. If people on one side are arguing that x is “necessary” and people on the other are arguing that x is “horrible”, then it should be clear that x is horrible and something should be done about it. (make x less horrible, find an alternative to x, remove whatever makes x necessary)
Applies well to things like medical testing on animals, prisons, and death.
This is interesting. I was going to offer what I thought were counterexamples, such as abortion, masturbation, and drug use, but now I’m not so sure.
For one thing, the “something” that should be done might simply be to prevent anyone from feeling horror (such as for masturbation) and for another it seems that there should be ways to mitigate the negative consequences of ‘horrible’ things (such as for abortion, by transferring an unwanted fetus to an artificial womb for adoption, or deliberately mitigating the unwanted side effects of drugs).