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SelfishnessTheKnownIdeal

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  1. I am having trouble with your argument because you have vaguely defined morality and ethics. You say that they are (respectively) "personal" and "social" but in all of your examples you resort to subjectivity regarding the situation and/or some presupposed "social duty." Your tipping example, in which it's "moral" to tip a lesser amount than a presupposed (by social custom) 15% of the check but "unethical" for unspoken reasons (I'm assuming because waitresses generally make most of their pay through tips from customers, or so I hear). This resorts to subjectivity because, simply put, "it's good for me (the tipper) and bad for her (the waitress)." Since the standard by which the ethical situation is undefined (and slightly reminiscient of whichever theory advocates "the 'ethical' is the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people") it is devoid of objectivity, and anything goes. This does seem to be your point, as you have implicitly stated in a later post (or at least that different ethical standards can be reached through different individuals), but even if this is the case, an objective definition would be required to fully establish this. As for the differentiation between the two in application to a sub-branch of philosophy, I think DavidOdden had a brilliant point several posts back.
  2. Hello all. I am currently getting back into Objectivism after trying to live by it without fully understanding it and its consequences. I await many great topic of discussion and debate on these forums and some fine friendships!
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