Notes on Recording of Lecture of 14/09/2022

• The root of ethics is emotion. What feels wrong? What feels right? If a person feels guilt, then it is wrong. If they do not, then all is good.

• Ethics springs from sentiment. Sentiment is an emotion that is felt.

• Ethics should not be universal. There should be varying degrees of ethics for various entities.

• The issue is virtuous. It would be virtuous to repay the favor. Martians may not understand because they are not a part of the population that established this rule.

• Benevolence is generally showing kindness. A benevolent person is kind to others.

• Benefits to society should not be a measure. Factory workers keep society running but doctors save lives. 

• Humes is really focused on the benefits to society. But is that all there is to it? Should people only be benevolent because it benefits society? I believe that people can do it for personal benefits too. The conviction might be even stronger if it was for personal benefit.

• Theory 5: You would feel guilty if the kid fell into the well.

• It would be impossible to construct ethics from pure logic. Sometimes the reasonable choice is crueler than the sentimental one. People often do things that are not logical for a better outcome in their opinion.