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Question: Are human beings more practical than ethical!?
What I mean by that is, are many of the things we hold to be morally wrong, actually more wrong for us because they can cause sadness and/or inconvenience in our lives!?

Eg: Do we truly, deep down in our heart of hearts abhor the idea of stealing because we honestly believe it is wrong, or do we just not want anyone to take or stuff!?

Or!.!.!. what if sweatshops were prominent in the western world, places like the UK and the US - would we stop buying Nikes and Nestle products then!?

We seem to show a lot of "moral outrage" over things that have the potential to directly affect us, and we make plenty of noise but never really do anything that substantial about things that don't!.

Is this too pessimistic an assessment, do you disagree or do you agree but feel the word runs better this way!?

(sorry, I know this q is kind of a long one!)Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Wherever capitalism rules!.!.!. being practical has more advantages than being ethical!.!.!.

Like you say!.!.!. people moan about stuff, the Media try and make the sheeple feel guilty for things!.!.!. but do we change our ways!?!.!.!. not unless forced to!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The answer is, for the most part, that people don't want to be bothered by it!. We know that if we steal an apple we get a slap on the wrist, but if we steal a pair of shoes we might get into more trouble!. In my opinion, we just don't want to deal with these problems, so we express moral outrage and ignore them!. I haven't seen anyone banding together to fight sweatshops HERE in America!. We have them, but we don't pay attention to them!. They don't make headlines!. I've said this before, we have become a lazy people!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

From what I can tell, most of us are more concerned with the practical issues that exist in the moment than they are with the spiritual/ethical issues that may be involved in what we're doing!. However, it does appear that at least some people do get it that being loving, honorable, compassionate and ethical is actually the most practical way to go through life because living ethicially and being true to ourselves produces the best results by far!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Read 'The Selfish Gene' by Richard Dawkins!. You'll understand a lot about our behaviour!. We exploit things, etc!., human brains(most) are advanced enough to decide what's ethical, etc!., memes!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

!.!.!.simply stated!.!.!.YES!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Practicality is built in to humans!. You don't need to learn this!.
Ethics comes into play as a civilization and as we live in a society!. You need to learn ethics!. Usually your parents school you at home telling you right from wrong!. Society implements laws to govern what is right and what is wrong!. Every society has basic rules such as murder is wrong, and stealing is wrong!.
Of course sometimes practicality overrides morality so you have instances where an individual justifies doing something unethical because they feel it is practical!.

There should be a balance between practicality and morality!.

Deep down inside you know it is wrong to steal but from a practical standpoint if you need the money then what can you do!?
Just like weighing the pros and cons of anything!. People will come up with different Pros and Cons!. Some may have all pros and some may have all Cons, some may have a mix of both!.
If you expect others not to steal from you then you don't see every perspective since you feel that just because you wont steal from others that others wont steal from you!. Unfortunately, everyone will experience a theft or something like that in their lifetimes!.Www@QuestionHome@Com