Well first of all, let's start start here:
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Originally Posted by ScientiaOmnisEst
- which is more "good", making a privileged American smile or saving the lives of 50 Syrian children?
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With this you've already judged that American as unworthy of good. They're "privileged"? We can't judge what someone is going through just because of where they live or what they're doing. You don't know what's happened to them or what they've gone through. That person buying a $500 suit you just passed without a thought while being concerned with a "global focus" might be buying the suit they're going to kill themselves in.
But they were too privileged to make smile? The smile that might get them through the next day?
Pervasive suffering comes in so many forms. No action is inherently good or inherently bad either. So the argument about more or less good means you are judging, based on your own interpretation, if this person is deserving of whatever help you can give.
So yes, I'm arguing against what those writers are talking about because they choose to ignore the value of something as simple as making a neighbor smile. Worse, they are judging the value of others based on some quantity of "good" they think they can put numbers to without ever considering the person standing right next to them.
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Originally Posted by ScientiaOmnisEst
Obviously the latter - helping some rich Westerner with their mental issues is less important than providing the basic needs of the severely disadvantaged, because you can't have psych problems if you died of malaria in infancy. How can you call yourself good if you aren't devoting your resources to those who suffer the most?
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This is ridiculous. To judge someone else's suffering to be less important is akin to playing God. Every single individual is important to me. Supremely important to me and I refuse to even consider that one person's psych problems are even slightly less important than someone else's food problems.
Doing good isn't about how many check boxes we get to cross off. Then it's just more selfishness. It's about helping others regardless.
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Originally Posted by ScientiaOmnisEst
So in a sense, local focus is like shirking a global duty, under this philosophy.
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Global and local are identical. To disregard one is to disregard all. The most important person at any moment is that person right in front of you.
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Originally Posted by ScientiaOmnisEst
It's the denial of the individual that bothers me in utilitarianism in general. Basically I need something that justifies acting in the interest of others sometimes, doesn't penalize self-interest, and definitely can't be extrapolated to "living for others". Because screw that. Others matter, but I kind of think one has a duty to oneself, whatever one was born into in life.
The fact alone that I'm writing this means I've gotten better - my mind's doing it's stupid thing and I'm kinda numb. It just sort of happened when I realized what my real objections and anxieties are, and started looking for alternatives for conduct. Surely humans have thought of justifications for doing whatever you want in life. Which is the same damn issue I started with - do I do what I want, or something else? Give up because it's all meaningless? Devote myself to a strict idea of "good"? What? What's the right way to live and be? That's my biggest issue. That and, " how can I harmonize that with what I think/know I want?"
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This is actually important. You've written several threads that have pointed out extremes, just like the one we're talking about and as has been pointed out, there are many "middle paths".
You are important. In just the same way as the person you pass on the street is important and just in the same way as someone in Libya is important. So in answer to your questions, you don't always do only what you want because you need to support others. But you can't support them if you don't support yourself. So you need to take care of yourself and help others as you can. Pushing to an extreme like punishing yourself for not focusing "globally" can only lead to more suffering as I've pointed about above. Extremes ignore what
can be done only leading to further problems.
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Originally Posted by ScientiaOmnisEst
Lastly, because I write too much, I mentioned retiring because I bug people. Every day I seem to have a new crisis over some abstraction, or some comparison, or something stupid. Is there a disorder that involves rapid mood swings like that, over such stupid things? I mean, most people never worry too much...
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Well, actually it could be a bipolar type of reaction. Many people worry so much it's crippling. So maybe you need to talk to a therapist, maybe you're fighting bipolar or something like that. And the things you're trying to work out aren't stupid. You're not bugging anyone.
Maybe you just need a very local focus and need to take care of yourself a little?
