tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6642011.post4136689285740151411..comments2023-10-29T10:32:36.914-04:00Comments on Philosophy, et cetera: Conscientious SadismRichard Y Chappellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16725218276285291235noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6642011.post-54115369652647206282021-06-28T03:32:44.166-04:002021-06-28T03:32:44.166-04:00Hi Richard,
I've been following a similar tra...Hi Richard,<br /><br />I've been following a similar train of thought in regards to milder, more realistic forms of sadism, such as pranking one's friends. That has some similarities to the sadist case, such as taking joy in inflicting some sort of discomfort on a person, but doesn't strike me as bad in the same way that true sadism is. Is it because it also serves the purpose of bonding with friends? Because friends implicitly consent to it? (A prank that "goes too far" might be framed as one that violates that implicit consent). Is the lack of true malice what is important?<br /><br />What about the joy people take in thwarting evil-doers? That is in some sense malicious, if one takes actual joy in the frustration the evil-doer feels, rather than joy that an evil deed has been thwarted. But I am not sure it is the same kind of malice the duty-constrained sadist feels.<br /><br />One thing I wonder about your example is how important the actual fact of the suffering is. Suppose there was some way to deceive the sadists so they thought an actor pretending to be tortured was being tortured for real. Would it still be good to disable their pleasure centers, since the emotion of malice is still present in them? Or would it now be bad, since their pleasure is no longer derived from an actual person suffering?<br /><br />I am also wondering exactly how good it is to prevent the pleasure of the malicious sadists. Suppose the only way to disable their pleasure centers was to torture a second innocent person? Even if there was a truly colossal number of sadists feeling pleasure, doing that seems perverse.Evanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15661002375460378958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6642011.post-340575903468809082021-06-11T00:59:24.647-04:002021-06-11T00:59:24.647-04:00Hi Richard,
For what is worth, my intuitions on ...Hi Richard, <br /><br />For what is worth, my intuitions on the matter are different. Intuitively, I think if one could temporarily disable the pleasure-centers in all the sadists' brains, doing so would be good, and in fact obligatory all other things equal. <br /><br />Additionally, that the sadists would be willing to follow their moral theory even if that made them suffer is no excuse, and the sadists are guilty and deserve to be punished...at least, if they are the sort of agents capable of moral blameworthiness. Then again, I find the sadists in this example considerably <i>alien</i>, so I'm not sure they'd be that sort of agents.Angra Mainyuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16342860692268708455noreply@blogger.com