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Morality and Intellect


Aquila King

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You know that the gold and silver rule are both pretty good guide post for morality. Any idiot can follow it, even the overly intelligent idiots.:lol:

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On 12/18/2017 at 5:04 AM, Aquila King said:

This may just be me simply making observations here (no real statistics atm), but it appears to me that being factually right or wrong about the world around us appears to play a rather significant role in how we treat others. As well as our reasoning ability, analytical and critical thinking skills, creativity, etc. playing a significant role in our moral decision making.

It seems that whatever it is we believe to be true, has a direct influence over our moral decisions. For instance: If you believe minorities to be inferior to white people, then you're likely to treat them differently. However the question then comes: "Is it the belief that 'minorities are inferior' that causes your emotional detachment from minorities, or is it the other way around?"

I can easily think of examples of people's thoughts and beliefs (or lack there of) directly influencing their moral decisions. However at the same time I can also think of numerous examples of people changing their beliefs in response to some emotional/moral struggles in association with said beliefs.

There are so many questions raised in regards to this topic.

  • Does our intellect influence our empathy, or does our empathy influence our intellect? Or is there an interplay between the two?
  • Does our emotional capacity correlate to our intellectual capacity in some way?
  • Does our ability to think deeply about many things and problem solve play any significant role in our moral behavior?
  • Does a higher IQ equate to a higher moral character? And if so, then does this mean some people are just born 'immoral?'
  • Essentially, is it immoral to just simply be stupid?

These are all just the first thought that come to mind when starting this topic.

I've struggled with this myself because it relates to the idea of living justly.

Plato had the following to say, 

Quote

When anger and fear, and pleasure and pain, and jealousy and desires, tyrannise over the soul, whether they do any harm or not, I call all this injustice. 

But when the opinion of the best... Has dominion in the soul and orders the life of every man, even if it be sometimes mistaken, yet what is done is in accordance therewith... And is best for the whole life of man, is to be called just... 

The opinion of the best...  This indicates that one shouldn't hold one's own views and moral opinion as be all end all.

Anyway, what I liked is this idea that one could still be considered just, even if incorrect, if one's intention follows the right ideas.

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