Poppins Parenting



The problem is, I know which are the 'right' answers, but as a parent, with stress, sleepless nights and so on, sometimes we all slip, have a faulty response to the situation and regret it later. (I often find myself apologising to my children if I've been caught in an unguarded moment).

We can't be Mary Poppins all the time, but we can try our best and not beat ourselves up for being human. 

Moral ambiguity

1. I don't want to put the world to rights, I just don't like people who put the world to wrongs.
2. You reap what you sow.
3. I have to warn you. I promised my mother a long time ago. I have to give folks a chance to walk away.
4. Don't do what the law says. Do what's right.
5. You don't start fights. But you sure as hell finish them. And you don't lose either.
6. Never forgive, never forget.
7. You are accountable only to your own conscience.
8. Do it once and do it right.
9. I try to do the right things. I think the reasons don't really matter. I like to see the right thing done.



Abortion - the Moral Landscape

 

MORAL STATUS

 

A living things is said to have moral status if there are moral restrictions on killing it or using it for our own purposes which are grounded in the nature of the creature. In other words, if it is wrong to use or kill the creature because of what it is, then it has moral status. Different organisms may have different levels or degrees of moral status. They might have:

• No moral status: There are no restrictions on killing or using it (such as grass, insects or bacteria).
• Partial moral status: There are some restrictions on killing or using it, (Such as Elephants, Dolphins, Gorilla's)
• Full moral status: there are many stringent conditions on killing or using it (such as include you and other people).

 THE 'FUTURE LIKE OURS' ARGUMENT

1. One of the reasons it would be gravely wrong to kill a person like you is that doing so would deprive you of a very valuable future.
2. Killing an embryo or foetus deprives it of a future like yours, one with similar human goods and experiences.
3. Therefore, it would be gravely wrong to kill an embryo or foetus.

THE 'HUMAN DIGNITY' ARGUMENT

1. The right to life, or dignity, is the most fundamental right a creature can have. If a creature has it, it must be by virtue of what the creature most fundamentally is.
2. We all agree that you have a right to life.
3. What you most essentially are is an individual human being.
4. 'Embryo' and 'foetus' are stages in the life of an individual human being.
5. Therefore the human embryo or foetus has dignity, or a right to life.

SENTIENCE AS A CONDITION OF MORAL STATUS

1. Moral status is about protecting a creature's interests.
2. Interests are things a creature can take an interest in.
3. Creatures need sentience to take an interest in something.
4. A necessary condition of having moral status then, is the presence of sentience, of being aware of things.
5. Applied to early human life: the foetus has no moral status until it has the capacity for sentience or consciousness, which is about half way through gestation.

 THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL STATUS

1. A newly fertilized egg or an embryo is a partial realization of a fully-fledged human being.
2. According to gradualism, just as early human life develops in to a fully human being, slowly, step-by-step, early human life's moral status develops in to full moral status slowly, step-by-step, over the course of pregnancy.

SUMMARY:

1. A FUTURE LIKE OURS: early human life has full moral status, because embryos and foetuses have a future full of human good.
2. HUMAN DIGNITY: Humans in the early stages of development have full moral status simply because they are human beings.
3. SENTIENCE: early human life has partial moral status because only conscious beings have any moral status and embryos and early foetuses are not conscious.
4. GRADUALISM: early human life has partial moral status because moral status grows gradually along with foetal development.

THREE PERMISSIVE VIEWS OF ABORTION:

1. THE STRONGEST POSITION: Abortion up through the mid-point or so of pregnancy is always morally permissible because early human life has no moral status.
2. THE MODERATE POSITION: Even early in pregnancy, the embryo or foetus has partial moral status. Given this value, abortion is only morally permissible if continuing the pregnancy will significantly diminish the woman's well being (or for any reason, the pregnancy did not result from voluntary actions).
3. THE DOMINION POSITION: Even if abortion is the destruction of something with partial moral status, aborting is always morally permissible because of the dominion rights women have over their bodies and/or reproductive lives.



DEONTOLOGICAL APPROACH: Kant's categorical imperative would say not killing is a universalizable moral action.

 

Sources:

 

Margaret Little, Director, Kennedy institute of Ethics.

 

https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-bioethics-georgetownx-phlx101-03x

3 Ways to Spot pseudoscience

1. Reliance on anecdotal rather then reproducible evidence.
2. Lack of causal explanatory frameworks.
3. An inability to falsify claims.



Materiality of Communication

Selection of Folio Society Books



My 'preferred' reading has to be surface or 'materiality of communication.

 

There are 3 reasons for this:

 

1. A high quality book triggers an emotional response. Once all five of your senses kick in, arguably a sixth sense of knowing you have a work of beauty in your hands, you are filled with an intoxicating euphoria that allows you to drift off to a safe, kind, warm and inviting place away from all your worries.

 

2. You can access complete immersion. Your brain switches off all external stimuli, phone's ringing, doors knocking, neighbours fighting, outside dogs barking, it all melts away when holding a high quality book in your hands.

 

3. It just feels right to hold a physical book. The textures, the knowing it has been created, bound, put together, ink spilled on it's pages, minor scuffs, damage, bumps, scratches, woodlice if you don't care for them properly, a spine that can be broken if you disrespect the book, all this comes from owning and reading a book of quality, which is worth every penny.

Gentleman, scholar, beast



In all things pertaining to your day to day life, you should conduct yourself as a Gentleman, impeccable manners and behaviour go a long way to oiling the social machinery we often find ourselves forced to play a role in.

 

It also behoves us to make scholars of ourselves. Disciplining ourselves to enjoy learning for it's own sake, brings it's own pleasures, not least in higher conversation and the ability to see through lies that others would deceive us with.

 

However we must also cultivate a capacity for the beast, which is held safely under lock and key, but which tells any would be miscreant that you have the confidence to deal with any threat some misguided fool may be under the assumption that because you are both Gentleman and scholar, you are easy pickings; you are not!



3 reasons for doing anything

If you haven't read Aristotle's ethics, it behoves you to read it. If you have, read it again. You will find it one of your closest friends throughout life. It's pages are packed full of valuable lessons and today I want to share three of those lessons with you, or should I say three reasons for doing anything.

1. It is morally good.
2. It is a practical necessity.
3. It gives you joy.

Even with all our labour saving technology we are still very time poor. We are stressed out, our lives seem packed with things we simply must do and often it feels like were on the hamster wheel, the faster we run, the more tired we get without actually getting anywhere.

 

Apply Aristotle's reason to your life,

• Don't buy all the stuff you don't need.
• Don't read the books or wear the clothes that you don't enjoy.
• Show kindness to your family and justice to your employer or employee.

Just think how much happier you will be by following just those three simple maxims to live your life by.

 

If something is neither moral, nor necessary, nor enjoyable, drop it!