Tuesday, June 26, 2018

The Art of the Good Life #28 : Making a deal with the Devil.


I can certainly relate to this chapter.

Beyond harming oneself or one's immediate family, there's not a lot that people will refuse to do if the monetary incentive is high enough. It might not be a bad thing for society because,  sometimes,  even a serial child rapist-killer should have access to justice and should be a chance to hire a lawyer to defend himself even though his actions may be universally disgusting.

This closes the three sections on the Circle of Dignity.

The author proposes that in order to live a good life, we develop a set of principles that we will never compromise.

The first section says that we will stick to these principles even in the face of rational and persuasive argument. The second section says that to stick to these principles, we must be willing to suffer grave bodily harm. And now the third says that we must not sell out these principles no matter what the monetary incentive is.

Sadly, beyond the principles concerning the safety and well-being of my family, I'm not sure if there are any principles that I will go so far for.

After all, in a modern society, almost everything has a price.

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