Shall we discuss morality?

[LordBritish 1,016]

I feel morality is less about actions and more about empathy. I remembered a game called jade empire that adopted a open palm/closed fist philosophy, with the former being forgiving/selfless and all about enabling personal freedom and the latter being selfish/proactive with a view of self superiority. The lack of empathy in actions is what ultimately leads to the darkside, I expect a lot of the milder force senstivrsc to drift in the grey, as most that are unaware don't act differently, while others that are aware will likely begin to exploit it for their own designs.

 

So it's OK to slaughter the innocent as long as you do it "empathically"? 

 

Eh, that probably comes across as more angry that I intended it.

No, because empathy is about giving life the respect it deserves. The murder of honestly innocent people cannot be done in a empathical manner at all, thus I would expect conflict to be generated from the action, reduced only if there is a reason behind it (a poison with no cure is painfully killing a person, or an fatally wounded bystander to end the agony). Empathy is about understanding and allowing for personal freedom, the darkside is about self entitlement over anything else.

And fair enough, personally I just chip in rarely.

[MaxKilljoy 1,107]

Empathy.

 

noun

1. the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

2. the imaginative ascribing to an object, as a natural object or work of art, feelings or attitudes present in oneself:

[KungFuFerret 4,120]

 

 

I feel morality is less about actions and more about empathy. I remembered a game called jade empire that adopted a open palm/closed fist philosophy, with the former being forgiving/selfless and all about enabling personal freedom and the latter being selfish/proactive with a view of self superiority. The lack of empathy in actions is what ultimately leads to the darkside, I expect a lot of the milder force senstivrsc to drift in the grey, as most that are unaware don't act differently, while others that are aware will likely begin to exploit it for their own designs.

 

So it's OK to slaughter the innocent as long as you do it "empathically"? 

 

Eh, that probably comes across as more angry that I intended it.

No, because empathy is about giving life the respect it deserves. The murder of honestly innocent people cannot be done in a empathical manner at all, thus I would expect conflict to be generated from the action, reduced only if there is a reason behind it (a poison with no cure is painfully killing a person, or an fatally wounded bystander to end the agony). Empathy is about understanding and allowing for personal freedom, the darkside is about self entitlement over anything else.

And fair enough, personally I just chip in rarely.

 

 

Actually you can totally feel empathy for someone you are murdering.   That is entirely separate from it being "a good act", and whether or not you decide to do it.   To give an example:

 

You have a person who is sick, or crazy, or some other state that makes them dangerous, or possibly just terminally ill.   You decide to kill them, either as a mercy killing, or some other rationale you build up in your head.  Or you are told "if you don't kill this person, I'll kill your whole family"  You can still feel bad about what you are doing.  You can still sympathize, and empathize with the person you are about to kill.  It doesn't mean you won't kill them.  I can think of tons of movies/shows where you have someone openly crying, as they kill someone.  That's empathy, having empathy doesn't mean you won't pull the trigger.  It just means you either will or won't feel much about the life you just ended.

 

But none of that, has any bearing on whether or not what you did was a good thing to do.   

Edited March 27, 2016 by KungFuFerret

[LordBritish 1,016]

(Shrugs) fair enough, you got me. Hard to convey decent sentences on a iPad touch screen. A single word that's easy to type wasn't the correct fit. Hehe

My basic message stands however if I drop the fancy words. darkside is to dominate and rob personal freedom, the force itself (the sort of light side) is to allow compassionate living and individual freedom, with its caretakers requiring constraint. That broadly speaking is how morality works in Star Wars, it's always worth noting that no individual person can live up to either absolute at all times. People can sway slightly now and again

[KungFuFerret 4,120]

(Shrugs) fair enough, you got me. Hard to convey decent sentences on a iPad touch screen. A single word that's easy to type wasn't the correct fit. Hehe

My basic message stands however if I drop the fancy words. darkside is to dominate and rob personal freedom, the force itself (the sort of light side) is to allow compassionate living and individual freedom, with its caretakers requiring constraint. That broadly speaking is how morality works in Star Wars, it's always worth noting that no individual person can live up to either absolute at all times. People can sway slightly now and again

 

That I agree with in regards to Star Wars