Ep68 : Morality and Ethics Part III Ethical Symmetry

Published: Jan. 1, 2014, 8 a.m.

b'And a happy 2014 to everyone out there in JKPodcast-land!\\n\\nIn this final episode of a three part series, we are once again joined by our friend Tom de Lorenzo to discuss the topics of morality and ethics.\\n\\nTo conclude our discussion, we turn our attention to the idea of ethical symmetry.\\n\\nThe idea is essentially that so long as all parties decreeing a rule or regulation are willing to concede to the same set of guidelines, then the actions taking place can be considered ethical. A relatively easy way to test this is using hypocrisy as a guide.\\n\\nFor example, if all people on an island are willing to draw straws and ultimately sacrifice themselves to the volcano gods then so long as everyone agrees this is the rule and abides by it come their turn, then the ethics are symmetrical. If on the other hand someone was spared for any reason, perhaps because they were deemed a ruler, then the ethics are asymmetrical.\\n\\nGovernments are of course incredibly asymmetrical.'