Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post - Some direct questions for Synozeer and Medievia

Traithe · 06-06-2005, 06:43 PM

Sure - and a healthy dose of moral relativism is a good thing, as it's conducive to civilized discussion and peaceful resolution of conflicts in and between socities.

However, what plagiarism really breaks down to is two distinct acts: 1) theft (by depriving the creator of either the work or its concomitant benefits, and accruing them to yourself), and 2) misrepresentation (by intentionally presenting the work as yours when you know it isn't).

Assuming as a given the lack of any reliable moral objectivity, I still challenge you to find a single society or societal set of ethics (i.e. one not inherently opposed to society or the rule of law, such as anarchism) that does not treat these two sorts of acts as immoral ones.

Put another way, I really don't much care that 1% of the world's population or whatever is anarchist and doesn't treat these things as morally wrong. The only people I really care about are reasonable members of society, i.e. the overwhelming majority of the world's population, and in that case an equally overwhelming majority will assert that these two sorts of acts are ethical wrongdoings.

In fact, I suspect that if you ask Vryce and Soleil their stance on theft and misrepresentation, they'd assert in no uncertain terms that both acts are morally wrong. If Soleil's ambivalence and reluctance to answer my very simple and straightforward question earlier in this thread are any indication, I imagine that this sits very uneasily with them in light of their past (and continuing) acts.

06-06-2005, 06:43 PM	#99
Traithe Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Name: Kite Posts: 131	Sure - and a healthy dose of moral relativism is a good thing, as it's conducive to civilized discussion and peaceful resolution of conflicts in and between socities. However, what plagiarism really breaks down to is two distinct acts: 1) theft (by depriving the creator of either the work or its concomitant benefits, and accruing them to yourself), and 2) misrepresentation (by intentionally presenting the work as yours when you know it isn't). Assuming as a given the lack of any reliable moral objectivity, I still challenge you to find a single society or societal set of ethics (i.e. one not inherently opposed to society or the rule of law, such as anarchism) that does not treat these two sorts of acts as immoral ones. Put another way, I really don't much care that 1% of the world's population or whatever is anarchist and doesn't treat these things as morally wrong. The only people I really care about are reasonable members of society, i.e. the overwhelming majority of the world's population, and in that case an equally overwhelming majority will assert that these two sorts of acts are ethical wrongdoings. In fact, I suspect that if you ask Vryce and Soleil their stance on theft and misrepresentation, they'd assert in no uncertain terms that both acts are morally wrong. If Soleil's ambivalence and reluctance to answer my very simple and straightforward question earlier in this thread are any indication, I imagine that this sits very uneasily with them in light of their past (and continuing) acts.