Bad things can happen. Not everything comes from the power of human actions to produce something wrong into the world, but a lot of things do come from human actions. Evil things are not an accident. The evils in our world would not exist if human consciousness did not create them into existence. If there is evil somewhere, it’s because […]
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The deep emotional and psychological connection between human animals and other animals can be profound. Many people have a deep emotional valuation of nonhuman animals they connect with, and even see their animal companions as the most important others in their lives, more than other human-to-human relations they have. The nonhuman animals are their life, and often the animals share […]
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There we are, doing our thing. But then someone doesn’t like that others like what we’re doing. They don’t want someone to challenge what they want. Some people do things that challenge the self-view and worldview of others who want to keep things as they are so they can keep their positions of power and control. They will attack others […]
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Taking a moral stand and making moral commitments is seen by many as the more effective approach for a leader to take. Making decisions based on morality, instead of economics, shows better moral character and authenticity to stand for a cause that’s right. People are more inspired by leaders who lead by moral principles than by the economic bottom line […]
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What is a principle? What does it mean to live a principled life? Is living a principled life the same as living an examined life? Principle: “origin, source, beginning; rule of conduct; axiom, basic assumption; elemental aspect of a craft or discipline,” Principles are where motives and drives comes from. It’s at the beginning of how we live. Most of […]
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Human animals aren’t the only ones who have a comprehension of fairness built in. I had recently done a post on how babies can grasp concepts fairness and correlate it with sharing. Non-human animal minds are often compared to that of a child, and we can find fairness in the animal kingdom outside of the human animal. Ravens are recognized […]
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Follow with me if you’re aware that there are various authority levels that nest into each other like a Russian Doll, from international to local levels. Leaving Authority The EU nations can leave the European Union without moving location if the majority of people decide in a vote, while we as individuals can’t just leave the impositions of an external […]
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Children have different sharing characteristics, but there is a basis for a sense of fairness and altruism in infancy. Babies (as young as 15-months-old) relate equal ration distribution with their willingness to share a toy. Some favor fairness and sharing, while others don’t. Is this nurtured from their parents and environment, or part of their specific “nature”? Cooperation Some people […]
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You can judge someone’s (or a particular group’s) understanding of basic morality by whether they are against harming others for personal gain. New research is helping us understand how this basic morality functions in the brain. Published in Nature Neuroscience, the study titled “Moral transgressions corrupt neural representations of value” identifies a neural process that reflects a reduced desire to […]
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The beating drum of economic theory claims we are primarily motivated by self-interest, and that’s what to expect from people in life. If that is true, why do we also enjoy performing acts of generosity/giving/sharing that don’t provide us with any return for what we put out? If our main motivation was to focus on the pure gains we can […]
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