Drunken Mistake?

[Inspector]

In this situation, I don't think anyone but you or your very close friends have the kind of context to say for sure; context is key in making any sort of moral judgment.

I will help give you some guidelines in deciding for yourself whether your actions were moral or immoral, however. If you had previously recognized any facts which clued you in as to the character of this girl, but ignored them, then it was immoral, although probably not horribly so. If you really had no clue that she was "that kind of girl," then it's ridiculous to hold yourself morally responsible for honest ignorance.

That's spot on advice! Just remember, Tnunamak, that it's all about what you, selfishly, would stand to lose or gain from an action. Don't fear the immoral as the violation of an otherworldly command, but rather in the same way you would fear stepping on a rusty nail: because it's going to bloody hurt you.

(that being said, you can get just as hurt by ignorance, so striving to make sure you approach the next romance with more wisdom will not only help you have success, it will also help you to feel better right now.)

[Marc K.]

I have learned quite a bit about myself and I'm sure I have learned things about myself that will be good to know in the future.

I think you still have a way to go if this is what you mean by "moral transgression":

Dictionary.com defines transgression as, "A violation of a law, command, or duty."

Given the context of what most people on this thread have said, is this what you think Objectivists mean by "moral transgression"?

Hint: the definition you provided is antithetical to Objectivist principle.

On the page you provided the only partial definition which comes close is from Wikipedia: Transgession refers to an action that breaks some code. So, in Objectivism, a moral transgression refers to the violation of an objective moral code -- developed by first identifying man's need for it and then using reason to discover it.

To learn more about the Objectivist ethics and to understand what people are saying in this thread (and on this board) I strongly suggest you read "The Virtue of Selfishness" by Ayn Rand, the first essay "The Objectivist Ethics" is particularly outstanding.

[tnunamak]

Edit on the above, I was a little tipsy last night waiting for my friend to park his car, I know what you mean by moral transgression.

All of the talk about alcohol probably doesn't leave a great impression, but my good friend is visiting from a few states away so it's kind of a special occasion...

[Pancho Villa]

So my friend came by the other day, from out of state. So I banged my head against a wall 50 times.

It was a special occasion though, so its okay.

[tnunamak]

Sorry I missed your response until now, Pancho Villa.

So you seem to imply that a special occasion is not grounds for doing something that is not usually okay.

Why I think that alcohol is ok for a special occasion (at least more ok than usual):

For the same reason that it is okay to give a few hundred dollars of toys to your kids on Christmas, but not to do so every day. In the short run, it can be more beneficial than detrimental, but in the long run, it might be the other way around. The same thing with alcohol. I might have lost a few brain cells, but I had a very fun weekend that will be remembered better than most random drunken nights. In the context, I think that I had more to gain than I had to lose. I would not drink tonight, however, just for the sake of drinking, because I think that I would have more to lose than to gain. The next week I would have forgotten about it.

[erik]

I think this happens to everybody in college.

Mine happened 10 years ago before I had read and AR or anything. In fact I was a pretty big partier and in my early 20's. My best friend was dating a girl and she kept bringing her friend with her and we would all do stuff as a group with some other people. Well I got to liking this girl and I made it obvious that I did. Well one night we all got to drinking and one thing led to another and we made out pretty heavy. So I'm thinking to myself, great! I like this girl and she must like me to make out with me. So I give here a ride home the next morning and she is a little weird. So I talk to her about it the next day and she's says it was no big deal but its obvious she isn't as in to me as I'm in to her. We went out a few more times but we just ended up being friends in the end.

It worked out fine as we remained friends but we were both up front and talked about it afterward. Make sure and do that.

Be careful with mixing drugs/alchohol and dating in the future. Don't do it at all would be my advice.