My boss come back from a business trip in Indian and got a flu. I am sitting right next to him, probably that’s how I got a flu. When I woke up this morning, I am having a headache, muscle pain, soar throat and drowsiness. Unfortunately, I have whole day meeting today and piles of work waiting me to finish before I take off for vacation, so I couldn’t skip work today. After work, I went straight to the pharmacy to buy Neo-Citron. Hopefully my flu will go away tomorrow after I drink the flu formula and have a good rest tonight.
Sex change operation
I just discover something that is more disgusting than being gay, it is the sex change operation. There is a guy in my company going to change his sex next month. At first I am not aware of his abnormality. When I work with him, I thought he is just a skinny guy with really long hair. Although he loves to wear tight clothes, I never notice he has breasts, not until someone point out to me. Well, why would I pay attention to his breasts if I assume he is a guy. Some of my colleagues noticed his breasts, and keep wondering whether is he a he or a she. Finally the mystery is solved when reliable source told us he is under going a sex change operation. He is injecting female hormones now. In next month, he will remove the extra body parts and officially become a woman.
This guy brings up lots of questions. After he turns into a she, presumably he will act like a real woman and love guys. Would any normal guy with a sane mind willing to marry a sex changed woman? If he loves guy, why can’t simply be gay? Compare to sex change, gay seems much more acceptable, at least gay guys are still guys. If there is a disgusting scale, gay is just medium disgusting. I can tolerate gays around me, as long as they are not my kids. I don’t think I want to deal with any sex changed woman. Sex change operation is on the extreme end of the disgusting scale. Pretending to be a woman while born as a man is out right lying, which is socially unacceptable, it is an act that destroy our social fabric.
I do acknowledge there are some men really want to change their sex. They have serious psychological problem, so we should treat them and cure them. If we can’t turn them back to 100% normal, at least we should turn them into gay. Helping them fulfill their sex change desire is not right way to treat their abnormal state of mind. I hope he better pay for his sex change operation fee out of his own money. As a tax payer, I do not approve the government health plan spend a single dime on sex change operation.
PHIL120 Moral Philosophy 道德哲學
說起道德﹐很多人會聯想起性行為﹐婚外情等題目﹐其實這些只是道德的一小部份。道德很笵圍很廣泛﹐讓我們分辨什麼事情是對﹐什麼事情是錯﹐什麼是善﹐什麼是惡。我這個學期修讀了道德哲學課﹐探討什麼是道德這個問題。雖然這課道德哲學是一年級的課程﹐但不是那種幾百人的大班﹐只有三十多人的小班。讀哲學不能擠在巨型講室單向接收課本內容﹐學生必須與教授在課堂內有互動討論。不過一年級學生大多數很少發問﹐不知是害羞還是無心向學﹐上課時更有不少人拿著手提電腦上網。反而我們幾個兼讀的成年人﹐上堂前讀熟指定閱讀課文﹐是堂上與教授討論的中流扺柱﹐令到課堂的氣氛活潑不少﹐沒有大班教學那麼沉悶。
道德的客觀性
上第一課時教授就已經開宗明義﹐明確地指出一般人對道德的誤解。道德不可能是相對性的﹐不可能只是每個人的不同觀點﹐不可能依附在宗教或文化上。若果道德是相對性﹐那麼就沒有絕對的對與錯﹐任何有關道德的討論也會變得沒有意義。柏拉圖早已指出道德與宗教沒有關係﹐一來我們不能客觀地以神作為推論的起點﹐二來神諭沒有劃一性﹐明日的神諭可以推翻今日的神諭﹐根本不能用作分辨對錯的標準。道德必定超越文化的規限。我們不可能無條件認同其他文化的所有道德準標﹐難道有文化會殺嬰我們也不能批評他們有錯嗎﹖二來我們根本不能清楚介定文化的範圍﹐難道黑社會文化也有黑社會殺人的道德嗎﹖道德必定是一套客觀的普世標準﹐不論任何時間也是放諸四海皆準的真理。道德哲學就是找出這一套善惡標準的方法。
這課分成為兩個部份。前半部講四大傳統道德理論﹐分別是功用主義﹐康德的道德責任論﹐社會契約論﹐ 和亞里士多德的德行論。每個道德理論也有完整的推論﹐可以合理地解釋一般的道德問題﹐如殺人﹐偷竊等。可是每個道德理論也有其限制性﹐在一些具爭議性的課題﹐採用不同的理論配合不同的前設﹐會得出不同的結論﹐這正是這些議題為什麼具爭議性的原因。下半部探討現今社會熱門的道德爭議﹐包括安樂死﹐墮胎﹐死刑﹐動物權益﹐環保等議題。教授會羅例正反相方常見的論據﹐然後以不同的道德理論去作批判思考﹐讓我們看清楚那些論據不合理之處。每篇指定閱讀課文均是這些課題的重要論文。或許我不認同某些文章的立場﹐但全部文章都寫得很有說服力﹐是寫批論性文章的極好的學習對象。
下面我會簡單講述四大道德理論的內容。至於堂上討論的道德課題 ﹐因為涉及太多推論和背景資料﹐很難在這兒作一個簡單總結﹐有機會在另外撰文細說。有趣與的朋友﹐可以參看我那兩篇有關墮胎和動物權益的功課。
功用主義
功用主義可以用一句話來總結﹐道德上的善或對﹐就是給最多人最大的快樂。功用主義可以細分為三個部份。第一部份是結果論﹐以結果來衡量一件行為的對錯。第二部份是好的定義﹐快樂就是好﹐痛苦就是壞。第三部份就是平等性﹐在計算功用的結果時﹐每個人的快樂和痛苦也佔同樣比重。
功用主義的問題﹐其實分別是三部份的內在問題。若果道德只用結果來衡量﹐很容易會變成為求目的不擇手段﹐成為大多數人侵犯小數人權利的藉口。若果快樂就是好﹐痛苦就是壞﹐那麼無痛苦的虛擬世界就是最好的世界﹐那The Matrix的電腦豈不是在行善。若果我的快樂和非洲飢民的快樂也佔同樣比重﹐那麼我把錢花在吃大餐而不捐給飢民﹐在功用主義的定義中就是行惡。平等性令到道德的要求太過嚴格﹐道德會淪為沒有人會認真執行空中樓閣。
康德的道德責任
康德認為道德是客觀性﹐可以用人類的理性去推論出來。他認為動機是分辨一個行為善惡的標準。若一個人做一件事﹐是出於想達到某些目的﹐這件事就不是善。若他在做同一件事﹐他並不是要求達到任何目的﹐他的行為出於道德責任﹐他就是在行善。道德責任可以分為兩種。第一種是完全責任﹐人不論在任何時候也不應該﹐如殺人。第二種是不完全責任﹐人應該要間中做﹐但不需要任何時間也做﹐如捐錢。至於有人那些道德責任﹐他提供兩個檢定的方法。第一個方法是黃金定律。簡單來說就是已所不欲﹐勿施於人。若果你不想每個人都做一個行為﹐又或者邏輯上不可能每個人都做同一行為﹐這個行為就是惡。第二個方法是以人為本﹐簡單來說就是不可以利用他人作工具。每一個人也有理性﹐可以自主作出決定﹐若果利用他人作為工具﹐就是不尊重他人的理性﹐否定他們作出決定的能力。
康德道德責任主要有兩大問題。第一﹐同一個行為若配上不同的動機﹐就可以左右是否通過黃金定律的結論。第二﹐道德責任論推論出一些很明顯違反常識的結論﹐最出名的是殺手敲門的兩難題。若果有個人被壞人追殺躲藏在你家﹐殺手來敲你門問你知不知那個人在那裏。康德認為對殺手說謊是不道德﹐你應該要供出那個人的藏身地點﹐好讓他給殺手殺害。
社會契約論
社會契約論認為道德只是人與人之間的建立契約﹐讓人類可以生活得更加好。試想象一個沒有法律沒有道德的原始地方﹐每個人也有自由作任何事情。因為沒有人可以憑力量長久統治﹐這個地方將成為每個人與每個人為敵的可怕地方。人類出於理性和自利的天性﹐就會走在一起商議﹐達成一個約束每個人行為的共識﹐建立起一個大家能夠安居樂業的生活秩序。道德就是人與人之間的和平條約﹐規定每個人的道德權利和義務。
社會契約論有兩個問題。第一﹐社會契約並不是必然地需要全人類的參與。只要大部份人簽定和約有足夠的力量﹐就可以對剩下來的小部份人為所欲為。社會契約不能解釋為什麼種族歧視或性別歧視是不道德。第二﹐在社會契約中﹐只有能夠履行道德義務者﹐才有參與契約的資格﹐才可以擁有道德權利的保護。社會契約不能解釋小孩或智障人士的基本人權。
亞里士多德的德行論
德行論與先前三大道德理論不同。先前三大道德理論﹐是套分辨一個行為是善是惡的準則。德行論則把決定善惡的方法反過來。善的行為是出於人性中好的本質﹐惡的行為是出放人性中惡的本質。亞里士多德決定本質好壞的方法﹐簡單地說就是孔子的中庸之道。兩個極端就是壞﹐在極端中間的就是好。舉個例子﹐勇氣是好的本質﹐但太少勇氣是懦弱﹐太多勇氣就是好勇鬥狠﹐兩個極端是壞的本質。行善可以培養好的本質﹐好的本質就是快樂之道﹐而人生的意義就是追求快樂。
德行論聽起來好像沒有問題﹐可是對我們應如何分辯善惡完全沒有幫助。亞里士多德沒有說明﹐如何劃分好壞本質的界線。一個人也不殺是極端﹐見一個殺一個也是極端﹐中庸之道豈不是要殺一半人﹖
Skiing season begins
Today, I went to Whistler to start my skiing season. I am horribly out of shape. After the first run, I already felt my adductor muscle stiffed up and stressed out. It is really cold and windy today. The Peak Chair and the Harmony Chair is closed due to strong wind. It is chilling riding on the chair lift. The cold wind blow so hard that it seems like freeze up my face. My face can’t feel anything when I am up in the chair. When we were riding the gondola in the afternoon, the wind was so strong that the gondola has to stop for 5 minutes, wait until the wind died down before keep moving. The gondola was swinging back and forth in mid air. I can’t imagine what if we were stuck when riding chair lift instead of the gondola, probably we will freeze into an icetude. Somehow the wind is so strong that it sucked the gondola door half open. Luckily the gondola is quite empty so no one is leaning against the door. The snow condition is pretty good today, we have lots of fresh snow, but the weather is pretty bad, in the afternoon, we have almost zero visibility. Well… we got some free lift tickets, so it is essentially free today. Since we are not paying, our mind works differently. We don’t have squeeze as many runs as possible to get the most worth of the ticket, we can take it easy and ski down relaxingly.
Company Party
Company party is one of the most boring and time wasting event. I wasted a whole fine Saturday evening. If the food is good and there are have lots of door prizes, maybe it still worth my time. However, the winter party of my company offer none of them. The company party is simply not fun, party is not free, drinks are limited to two per person, the casino game uses fake money and the dance music is pretty lame. If I want to have fun with my friends at work, there are much better things to do than go to the company party. The only positive reason I can come up with for the party is it is a great way to know the spouse of your colleagues. Normally don’t see the spouses of your colleagues and you don’t get to introduce them to your spouse. It is nice to let your spouse know your friends at work, so when you whim about work at home, she can link the names with the faces.