Killing Babies

[Azash]

Why would believing ethnic cleansing is justified make someone deranged? I don't see a moral difference between saying "It's OK to kill them because they're young" and "It's OK to kill them because they're Chinese/Poles/Jews/Black/Plutonian".

First off, allow me to correct that I was referring to infanticide in cases of severe development issues. Second, a will to ethnically cleanse does not need derangement, it needs a true belief that one's own ethnic, political or religious stance justifies genocide.

 

[Elrohir]

First off, allow me to correct that I was referring to infanticide in cases of severe development issues. Second, a will to ethnically cleanse does not need derangement, it needs a true belief that one's own ethnic, political or religious stance justifies genocide.

I missed your first point. Even so, I think mine still stands.

 

[Azash]

Your problem, not mine.

 

[Bill3000]

First off, allow me to correct that I was referring to infanticide in cases of severe development issues. Second, a will to ethnically cleanse does not need derangement, it needs a true belief that one's own ethnic, political or religious stance justifies genocide.

Ethnic cleansing is not necessarily genocide. Forced transfer of a people from an area is ethnic cleansing.

 

[Azash]

However, it is being compared to infanticide, which has nothing to do with forced transfer.

 

[Pikachu]

No, I'm not saying that just because someone holds a different viewpoint, they aren't worth listening to. But there is such thing as someone who is so deranged, so far out there that you can't have a truly informative intellectual debate with them. Would you agree on that poitn?

I don’t think anything people believe is so far out there that it is impossible to have truly informative intellectual debate with them, as long as they are willing to discuss their reasons for holding those beliefs in a rational way. This teacher appears to be more than willing to discuss the logic reasons that lead him to his conclusion, and apparently his views has lead to some interesting discussions in class. Wouldn’t that be good, regardless of what the teacher actually believes?

You're claiming that someone doesn't need something if they don't know they need it.

Sorry, my comment was meant to be read in the context of my previous posts. What I meant is that a baby doesn’t need the right to live because a baby will not experience any difference regardless of if its society gives a baby an inherent right to live or not. A baby can live without anybody acknowledging if it has an inherent right to live. Of course a baby will be exposed to an increased risk of being killed if it does not have the right to live, but the baby cannot possibly know about this risk. The only way this will make any difference to the baby is if it actually is killed. But when that happens it will be dead, and consequently it cannot experience the difference. This is different for older humans who will be affected simply by knowing how our society sees our right to live.

The greatest asset of human being has been our ability to think. We're not the fastest, the strongest, or the biggest animals in the world. But we are the smartest. I contend, therefore, that an embryo becomes a human being once it has something we can recognize as a human brain.

How would this reasoning work if there existed an animal species that were smarter than humans? Would it be ok for humans to kill human babies then?

 

[Gogf]

How would this reasoning work if there existed an animal species that were smarter than humans? Would it be ok for humans to kill human babies then?

No. Our intelligence was selected for. It's why we're here. It's a characteristic part of us. That'll be true whether or not there are aliens smarter than us.

 

[El_Machinae]

How would this reasoning work if there existed an animal species that were smarter than humans? Would it be ok for humans to kill human babies then?

Many people believe it's okay to kill babies if a superior being tells you to, and that it's the right thing to do.

 

[Shaihulud]

Superior being over-rule morals i think. Killing babies is morally acceptable , don't really see how to justify it. Of course people are still able to make difficult choice about morals if it is beneficial to them.