Gyges Ring (a moral question)

[Prince_Imrahil]

A common idea brought up in philosophical discussions of morality is whether someone who would face no consequences of immoral behaviour would remain moral. Plato uses The Ring of Gyges example to illustrate how any man that would come upon such a device (an invisiblity granting ring) would abandon all his moral codes and virtues of character for self-interest with no consequence.

So since it is silly to attempt to look at this from a point of view of whether a society would have morals if there were no negative consequences due to actions (they'd ne unnecesary if there was no negative results) I would like to keep this on the level that Plato uses: if you, or an individual, had the ability to act immorally (cheat, steal, fullfill all your wants and needs at the expense of others) and not face any consequences, would you?

Or do you think its possible that a person can have enough strength of character to not do bad with such a power (say invisibility) just to uphold their own moral beliefs?

(for instance, if a normal person had clark kents powers, would he be a superman or a super self-serving individual?)

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

If given the chance to do evil with no external consequences, I would probably do good just to be contrary.

 

[Sahkuhnder]

It depends on the individual but power can corrupt.

"Lead me not into temptation" has a lot of wisdom to it.

 

[Pontiuth Pilate]

Immoral actions are the effect of a corrupted self, not its cause.

 

[Sahkuhnder]

Immoral actions are the effect of a corrupted self, not its cause.

None of us are perfect, so I think we all have at least some "corrupted self" deep-down inside.

And wouldn't our corrupted self, with the ability to exploit that trait - without consequence - be more likely to surface?

What if you started by using your powers harmlessly with only the best of intentions? A very slippery slope indeed.

 

[CCA]

The Gyges Ring would be very useless in this day and age...
Heat visions goggles would detect an invisible person.

I probably would be corrupted though

 

[Prince_Imrahil]

Let's say this ring made you invisible to all manners of detection unless you cared to be detected....

 

[CCA]

Let's say this ring made you invisible to all manners of detection unless you cared to be detected....

In that case I would assasinate every World Leader and fill in the void caused by the Chaos

 

[Quiet Sound]

/edit

Actually let me see what other people have to say before I offer my thoughts.

 

[Elrohir]

So since it is silly to attempt to look at this from a point of view of whether a society would have morals if there were no negative consequences due to actions (they'd ne unnecesary if there was no negative results) I would like to keep this on the level that Plato uses: if you, or an individual, had the ability to act immorally (cheat, steal, fullfill all your wants and needs at the expense of others) and not face any consequences, would you?

Well, I believe in God, and I believe that I'll be judged, even if I can't be sent to hell. And I want to please God by doing the right thing, so I suppose I would not do evil if I got this mythical ring, anyway. (Or so I hope)

If you say that, hypothetically, even God doesn't know or care, then I admit I might take some slight advantage of an invisibility ring, or other special power. I don't think I have in it me to be a mass-murderer or a rapist or anything especially evil, but I can see myself playing some slightly twisted pranks....

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

Not really, I would be bad but I wouldn't do anything truly evil but nasty stuff ofcorse.

 

[bigfatron]

I am sure there are temptations that could come my way that I would find hard to resist - for instance, if I had a ring that made me irresistible to women I am damn sure I would crack if Nicole Kidman walked in to the bar I was in!

Most ways though, no. I would not, I am pretty sure, steal, cheat or murder.

I might be tempted to take vigilante action in extreme circumstances. For instance when the gangster Kenneth Noye was acquitted of murdering a policeman on a technicality, it would have been very tempting to remove all his wordly goods and distribute them to the needy.....

BFR

 

[Bozo Erectus]

I think most of us would indulge ourselves and become thoroughly corrupt and immoral, but would quickly grow bored of such an existence and start playing by the rules again. A real world example (and no I dont have any details, I read about this like 20 years ago): there was a candy factory that was losing alot of money because employees were stealing so much candy. All attempts to stop it failed, so they instituted a new policy: henceforth employees could eat all the candy they wanted, all day long. After a brief spike in candy consumption, it quickly dwindled to virtually nothing and they eventually stopped losing money to theft. Nobody wanted the candy anymore.

 

[Gladi]

Bright day
Well I would not be able to resist continuously but indulging would bring me such a moral backlash I would throw it away. (I have spent nights wrecked by guilt over much less)

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Indeed, guilt, far from being a purely religious phenomenon as some have claimed, is in fact quite a useful check against anti-social behavior that we trhink we can get away with. All of the things I consider wrong that seriously tempt me are things I could do with no one knowing (or at least caring), so I rely entirely on internal checks. It is possible that given the power to do more obvious things without getting caught, that I would have a desire to, but now I don't.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

If I had such a Ring, I'd call a volcanologist and ask him if he knew a good one to visit which had accessible molten lava.

Hey, it corrupts, and it turns people invisible...

I'd use it for perhaps a few weeks, then seal it up somewhere as a curiosity.

 

[bhsup]

There are plenty of good and decent atheists, so I call foul on Plato's assertion. They don't believe in any eternal punishment and still lead a good life.

 

[warpus]

I would use the ring to spy on naked college girls, and maybe feel them up while they're sleeping, but not much else.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

There are plenty of good and decent atheists, so I call foul on Plato's assertion. They don't believe in any eternal punishment and still lead a good life.

The internal check doesn't have to be belief in God.

 

[Shylock]

I might destroy the ring because of it's inflationary potential. Although I might give myself a few things for going through the trouble.


The Ring must be destroyed!