Garshasp Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 When trying to describe, define, explain, analyze, and evaluate a foreign society, culture, or civilization the desideratum is to be completely objective and neutral. To be fully accurate and just. To see, understand, tell, and explicate the real truth or true truth. And to be wholly and infinitely rational and scientific as you do it. But everyone is morally imperfect. We all naturally have moral failings, as do our societies. We're born biologically defective, and we acquire errors along the way, both of which are exacerbated by our flawed personal and social background and envirornment. Or own weak society, culture, or civilization makes it hard for us to accurately and justly define and evaluate other such alien collectives and societies. The reality is all individuals -- all observers and judges -- are are at least somewhat biased and warped. Thus Marx is slightly right when he says: "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it." [emphasis added] And the postmodernists are slightly right when they say: All descriptions and analyses of culture are merely "text", based on a biased and warped individual's interpretation of his and others' societies. [emphasis added] Even feminism and Orientalism -- such false, evil, and prejudical belief-systems, generally -- have a bit of truth to them. The fact is that even an objective and neutral viewpoint -- a strictly rational and scientific one -- is a personal and subjective viewpoint of sorts. It's derived from, and reflects, a kind of bias and warp -- a sort of individual prejudice. However, this is emphatically the best bias to have. It's the one most likely to yield and encompass real truth or true truth about how 1) reality and 2) various individuals and 3) different social groups and institutions actually are. It is, at least potentially, fully accurate and just. And the best bias of all -- the most unbiased bias -- is the Western liberal one, which aims at reason, individualism, liberty, justice, goodness, greatness, beauty, happiness, etc.: all perfect things of infinite value which all proper, healthy, and ideal individuals and societies aspire to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grames Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Objective and neutral don't necessarily go together. If liberty is a good then tyranny is an evil, and that is not a neutral viewpoint on tyranny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garshasp Posted September 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Grames -- I think you're right, and I thank you for correcting me. Maybe the term I want is neutral-looking, balanced, fair-minded, or honest. But right now it seems best to delete it (in paragraphs 1 and 6). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonid Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Garshaps:"But everyone is morally imperfect. We all naturally have moral failings, as do our societies. We're born biologically defective, and we acquire errors along the way, both of which are exacerbated by our flawed personal and social background and envirornment. Or own weak society, culture, or civilization makes it hard for us to accurately and justly define and evaluate other such alien collectives and societies. The reality is all individuals -- all observers and judges -- are are at least somewhat biased and warped." You view imperfection as a metaphysically given fact, which is amount to a malevolent view on existence. But you are wrong. If we were born biologically defective we wouldn't be able to exist at all. From other hand morality is not metaphysically given but man-made phenomenon. The degree of your moral perfection depends only on you. To blame such an imperfection on the social background and environment is determinism and blame culture. As Ayn Rand would put it, speak for yourself, brother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrolicsomeQuipster Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Ditto on Leonid, morality is only about choice, inherent moral imperfection leads to the contradiction of a choice that isn't a choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aleph_1 Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 The ideals you enumerate in your last paragraph, Garshasp, little adhere to modern western societies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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