Wisdom and Cheese- Deadly Thigamajiggers (General)

by dhw, Thursday, December 08, 2011, 10:29 (4542 days ago) @ dhw

Last night I edited my post to about half its original size, as I do tend to go on a bit, but one of the items I cut out was my response to your dam “analogy”, which you thought took us away from the moral arena. It doesn’t, and on reflection I would say this is probably the clearest example of all, illustrating not only the dividing line between functionality and morality, but also why it’s important.

A dam is to be built with the purpose of storing water, providing electricity etc., in order to provide a better quality of living. If it is built, it will disrupt the lives of thousands, damage the environment etc. Here you have a clear conflict between function (storing water etc.) and morality (causing harm), i.e. what we call a moral dilemma! Do you give precedence to functionality over morality? If you build the damned dam, some would say your decision is immoral. You may rightly say that “immoral” is a subjective judgement. You might argue that the benefits of the decision will outweigh the harm – providing a better quality of living for millions as opposed to disrupting the lives of thousands. That requires weighing benefits against harm, which is the essence of morality, not of functionality. The dam itself will achieve its functional purpose of providing water and electricity and hence providing a better quality of living for some. There is no way you can call it dysfunctional; you can only dispute the moral rightness or wrongness of the decision to build.