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I think we need to get back to the root of the question. If someone is truly an altruistic person, and truly puts him/her-self in front of others first, regardless of conscious thoughts and realizations of morals, then, yes, when someone does it b/c he/she thinks someone is watching, it is less moral. We all know ppl like this. Someone who does positive things b/c they like the fact that someone thinks highly of them, as well as others who do it b/c they are genuinely altruistic. The act and the reaction of the recipient isn't immoral, or less moral, but the activator, or the person doing the deed is less moral. As soon as you put your own needs over someone without them knowing, you're being selfish and self centered. Now like I said, that doesn't mean that the act won't be appreciated. Of course one will argue someone who isn't 100% altruistic in belief can still be that mindset for at least one moment, but still, that person will recognize it, and eventually start to abuse it, thus leaning on the less moral side.
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I'm an ethical relativist; I don't believe in that the ethical codes of one culture can be applied to the actions of another - and by extension, no, I don't believe the moral beliefs of one person can or should be applied in the judgment of another.
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I'm an ethical relativist; I don't believe in that the ethical codes of one culture can be applied to the actions of another - and by extension, no, I don't believe the moral beliefs of one person can or should be applied in the judgment of another.
It's not at all impossible to make a moral judgment about someone's actions - you simply need as much knowledge about the person's moral standing as you do about the action itself.
If I live my life believing that it is wrong to murder people, and I tell you this, and then one day I murder someone - you would be entirely well placed to judge my action as immoral.
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What really matters are the results. If John does something because he knows he's being watched but has the same results as Jane, who just does it whether being watched or not, does it really matter?
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This was my first post and first thing i thought of to see how this all works. Thanks for the responses. The moral part of the question wasn't really addressed. Maybe a better phrasing would have been, "are people who develop good morals throughout the experiences they've went through better than those who follow the morals and rules that they've read about or been preached?" Im not saying we all don't do things for selfish reasons. Its supposed to be that way, who ever put us here wanted us to feel good about doing good things. SO i agree that motives aren't the most important factor in doing good. I suppose i believe it is better to develop morals as life goes on and as one learns from experience.
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I think there is a big distinction to be made between behavior that is conducted out of a fear of punishment and behavior conducted merely because you believe it is the right way to behave.
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I would agree that someone who does something good just to garner personal gain is missing out over someone who does good just because it is the right thing to do.
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oh god are we turning this into an anti judeo christian thread again? this gets so old.
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Psychoanalytically speaking....people usually do good because of things they have internalized from their parents. ( Thats besides perhaps an innate sense of good and bad which can get warped by bad experiences.) Believing that there is a good God who watches over our deeds is actually just externalizing what was formerly internalized. Its our superego ( the place of internalized parental rules and regulations) inside our heads that is being projected outside of our heads.
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do motivations matter?
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do motivations matter?
as long as good is being done, i don't really think it matters WHY someone does good.
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Thiests dont do good because they believe that God or 'somethng' is watching over them, but because they believe that the one who watches over them is itself good and teaches us whats good. We do good for all the same reasons. The only difference is that we have an absolute idea of whats good whereas people who dont believe in a God would all decide on their own what is 'good'.
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