On Knobe and Leiter - by Casey Emberger
I agree with Nietzsche that our psychological and physiological traits but I do not believe these two things matter the most with regard to morality. Nietzsche also believes that there are different types of people based on a fixed psycho-physical constitution. In addition, these traits are immutable. I disagree with this point. I think that all people’s moral character are affected by their predetermined traits and genetics. But I do not think that this plays such a significant role. A person’s moral character relies on many things and I think the world is too complex for anyone to say that these things are a product of primarily one factor. A person’s life has an infinite number of variables. There are so many things that could change the course of a person’s life and so many other possible situations that it is hard to say what a person’s moral character is developed by. It could have been a specific life altering event, a hiccup in gym class, or even a choice that a person makes on their own volition. I think that this is the heart of my objection to Nietzsche.
People have choices and those choices matter. They could change the course of a person’s life or change a terrible person into a saint. Everyday we must make choices and those choices are uniquely ours. I can make decisions for myself, yes there are external factors that do effect the outcome but I am the one that ultimately makes the choice. I am the one who is responsible for my own actions. I cannot blame it on my genetics or my predetermined traits; when it comes to morality that choice is my own. All the data used in this piece to show that this is not the case does little to convince me. Most of the experiments’ focuses are not a person’s moral choices but something else. In addition these experiments can only account for about 50-60% of choices. I am interested in what accounts for the other 40-50%. It just shows that there are many factors that affect a person’s choices. I think its important to recognize all those factors and not just one or two.
People have choices and those choices matter. They could change the course of a person’s life or change a terrible person into a saint. Everyday we must make choices and those choices are uniquely ours. I can make decisions for myself, yes there are external factors that do effect the outcome but I am the one that ultimately makes the choice. I am the one who is responsible for my own actions. I cannot blame it on my genetics or my predetermined traits; when it comes to morality that choice is my own. All the data used in this piece to show that this is not the case does little to convince me. Most of the experiments’ focuses are not a person’s moral choices but something else. In addition these experiments can only account for about 50-60% of choices. I am interested in what accounts for the other 40-50%. It just shows that there are many factors that affect a person’s choices. I think its important to recognize all those factors and not just one or two.
posted by Kelly Sorensen at 12:03 PM
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