Do you think you're better than most?

[nath]

[ QUOTE ]
there has to be 3 billion africans, russians, and china-men that can barely figure out how to feed themselves on a daily basis.... I would say that puts anyone with an internet connection in at least the 51 percentile...

[/ QUOTE ]
I guess if you define "better" as "born into more fortunate circumstances", then yeah.

[Duke]

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why does better have to do with morality?

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it doesn't have to, but I think that's the broadly accepted definition of "better" re: people and without an "at" after it.

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You're presenting stipulations by defining what "better" means. You're also attempting to define morality for everyone as a standard that you don't see them living up to.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
there has to be 3 billion africans, russians, and china-men that can barely figure out how to feed themselves on a daily basis.... I would say that puts anyone with an internet connection in at least the 51 percentile...

[/ QUOTE ]
I guess if you define "better" as "born into more fortunate circumstances", then yeah.

[/ QUOTE ]
I hope that you're just attacking his selection of targets, and not the basic idea. Fortune has a bit to do with possession of every virtue, so to try to remove it from the equation is impossible.

[ilya]

[ QUOTE ]
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why does better have to do with morality?

[/ QUOTE ]

it doesn't have to, but I think that's the broadly accepted definition of "better" re: people and without an "at" after it.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're presenting stipulations by defining what "better" means. You're also attempting to define morality for everyone as a standard that you don't see them living up to.

[/ QUOTE ]

I must define "better" for myself somehow before I can answer the question.

Beyond that, all I said is that most OOTiots should answer "no" if they follow my understanding of the question.

I did admit in a later post that this may be because I'm overestimating the average morality level.

[ilya]

[ QUOTE ]
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there has to be 3 billion africans, russians, and china-men that can barely figure out how to feed themselves on a daily basis.... I would say that puts anyone with an internet connection in at least the 51 percentile...

[/ QUOTE ]
I guess if you define "better" as "born into more fortunate circumstances", then yeah.

[/ QUOTE ]
I hope that you're just attacking his selection of targets, and not the basic idea. Fortune has a bit to do with possession of every virtue, so to try to remove it from the equation is impossible.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would argue though that to the extent that a virtue is the result of acts of god such as genetic composition, it confers no moral merit on its possesor. For example, recent research suggests that some people are born with a higher pain tolerance than others (because of less sensitive pain receptors I believe). If we could somehow quantify the boost in courage this may give a person, that person would have no claim to moral superiority over a control unless he was more courageous than the genetic boost alone could account for. Even then the experiment would have to be controlled for environment to be valid.

[guy.incognito]

Absolutely (the ladies are on my jock like ants on candy!)

[Matt R.]

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Without stipulations, everyone should be answering yes. Anyone answering "no" has a definition of "good" or "better" or whatever that they're not living up to, which is sad.

That's not to say that redefining your ideals to fit yourself is right, but that whatever ideals you hold as being "good" should be what guided you to become what you've become, or act in the way that you do.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or we answered no because we believe that no one person is inherently "better" than any other person. I may think I am better at some things than the average person, but that doesn't make me the "better" person as a whole.

I actually think it is sad that so many people are answering "yes" -- as if there is some all-encompassing criteria that they've uncovered where they can say "hi, I'm better than you" and really mean it.

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So you're saying that you're no better than a child molester? That seems like a pretty severe devaluation of the word "better."

[/ QUOTE ]

That's exactly what I'm saying, actually. Emotionally, my gut reaction is that I'm better than the child molester. But when I actually analyze the statement I realize that I'm not "better", I have just made what I would consider better moral decisions. Perhaps I'm "better" morally. To actually say I'm inherently BETTER though, requires you to define the better person as one who has made superior moral decisions throughout his or her life -- which is a stipulation (not what the OP was asking). Maybe this is the only criteria for deciding who is a superior person, but I really don't think so. This is because there are countless other criteria that we could potentially measure, and I honestly don't think we can define one person as superior to another in a general sense (i.e. it's impossible to quantify the "total goodness" of a person).

Also, once we start saying the criminal is inherently inferior in some way (say we are using morality as our defining criteria) it sure seems like we're taking away his capacity to change in some way and learn from his mistakes. If we start saying "you did something wrong, therefore I'm better than you" we're telling him/her that there is something inherently wrong with them and that's just the way it is -- no point in trying to improve on your morality (for instance) because I'm just better, period.

[nath]

By the way, I voted "yes", obviously, and most evidence suggests this is the case, not to mention that I personally feel I'm even more of an outlier than that (i.e. better than more than just "most".)

Also, I'd like to contribute this:

Better than most at feeling your pain,
Walking wounded through the stars tonight, we wander the plains,
Pointing pistols at the dawn.

Never looked into your eyes this long,
With a dollars worth of distance run,
Courtesy of the broken and holy one.

Your lipstick is thick but Paris is gone,
And I wish this was a crowded room, now the challenge is on,
And I never learned to fly.

Never looked into your eyes this long,
With a dollars worth of distance run,
Courtesy of the broken and holy one.

Better than most at feeling no pain,
Just as soon as you arrive, we'll start,
I want to explain why I never learned to fly.

Never looked into your eyes this long,
With a dollars worth of distance run,
Courtesy of the broken and holy one.

Better than most at feeling no pain.
Better then most at feeling your pain.

[SEABEAST]

I hate myself but I hate everyone else more

[Genz]

I don't think I'm particularly good. But the others are far worse.