(08-07-2014, 04:54 PM)Warren Castille Wrote: Where one person sees kind and good-heartedness, other people see selfishness and greed.
We could wish a peaceful end to the Garlean war. We could wish Ishgard back to sanity. We could wish for an unending era of prosperity and glory and we only have to pay the price of... one person. Sure, they might just be retconned out of existence. Sure, they might be bound to eternal damnation for eternity just so the rest of the world could see immaculate heaven and light.
We deny that, for all of Eorzea and the entire world, for one person.
This is exactly the sort of idea on philosophy I was planning to post, but I scrapped it in my earlier post out of a desire to keep things on track. Still, though, it's an interesting discussion.
How do we define altruism or righteousness? Is it "good" to forsake the benefit to the many because of the value of the few? But on the other hand, would it also be considered "good" to benefit others, even against their will? Do we, as single individuals with no hint of omniscience, have the moral right to make a decision with which we will not understand the full consequences? Making the wish "I wish everyone would cooperate and understand one another" is essentially just brainwashing. Wishing for an end to hunger or poverty has extraordinary consequences that might do more harm in the long run.
Anyway, this topic is debatably worth an entirely different thread on its own, but I'm glad someone else brought it up. It's something to think about.
