On Selfish and Selfless Readings of Buddhist Scripture
In Indian religions and philosophy, mokแนฃa โ the escape from the cycle of death and rebirth (saแนsฤra) and, thereby, the liberation from suffering (dukkha) โ is (typically) the ultimate goal of (oneโs/my/your) life. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and other schools of thought disagree about various details โ Buddhists prefer the term nirvฤแนa instead of mokแนฃa, for example โ but all accept a version of the doctrine that right (non-) action leads to good karma, which leads to better rebirth, and ultimately to mokแนฃa. That ultimate goal is a selfish goal, however โ the ultimate aim of my right (non-) action (regardless...
On the Idea of an Unconditional (Moral) Rule
In his Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals Kant argued that the moral law (assuming there is one) must be unconditional and universal. As part of that argument he made a famous distinction between categorical and hypothetical imperatives. Imperatives are โoughtโ (or โshouldโ) statements, such as โyou ought to tell the truthโ. The difference between the two kinds of imperatives is that hypothetical imperatives depend on a specific kind of condition, namely a desire, while categorical imperatives are universal, unconditional, and absolute. Thus, โif you want human civilization to survive the 21st century, you ought to eat the richโ is...
Dao and Second-Order Consequentialism
After king You of Zhou fell in love with Bao Si he exiled his wife, Queen Shen. The disgraced Shen family retaliated in 771 BCE by attacking and killing king You. The Zhou dynasty never recovered โ although nominally it remained in power for another five centuries, this period was characterized by failing authority and nearly continuous war. Perhaps not coincidentally, this was also the most fruitful period in the intellectual history of China and is commonly recognized as the Golden Age of Chinese philosophy. Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, and many other of Chinaโs most famous philosophers lived...