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Originally Posted by Triple_R
No, not really. "Burden" has a strong negative connotation, so people will naturally tend to see it as "negative". "Arbitrary" also has a strong negative connotation.
Your choice if terms here is... eyebrow-raising to me. There are much better, much fairer terms you could use here for what I think you're trying to convey with "Burden" and "Arbitrary".
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I see both as neutral terms actually, but I guess not everyone shares my sentiments on that. Perhaps I should have used "relative" instead of arbitrary?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R
Freedom should be tempered by reasonable laws, but the complete absence of freedom is an absolutely evil thing. So I'm inclined to think that freedom is an absolutely good thing.
I would argue that the state farthest from freedom is slavery. And what do you think most people think of slavery?
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What did the Greeks think about slavery? What did the British, Spanish, Portuguese, etc. think when they colonized the "New World"?
Values change with the times. The only values I can think of that are relatively stable are the ones necessary for the sustenance of society.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R
Not everybody agrees with that. Are you familiar with the concept of "Natural rights"?
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I have a general idea of it, but I'm more inclined to believe in the Social Contract Theory myself. I see society as an entity where individuals agree to sacrifice a portion of their freedom to permit the existence of a society.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R
There's a lot of room for debate when it comes to morals. But for all the shades of grey out there, there are some things that I'm inclined to think are absolutely good (freedom) and absolutely evil (racism, for example).
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R
Moderate government intervention? Now I raise eyebrows again. "Moderate" is not a term I would use to describe Sybil...
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I was trying to use a realistic example to illustrate my point. Moderate government intervention to economic activity is rapidly becoming more prevalent as opposed to Adam Smith's traditional laissez faire paradigm (unrestricted free trade aka capitalism). Now would you say that such a move is a definite "evil"?