Obligation toward declared superiority

G

greenberg

until the end of the world
Registered Senior Member
If a person declares to be morally, cognitively or spiritually superior to you, are you obligated to subject yourself to them?

I realize this might sound like a strange question.
However, it is possible that someone is superior to oneself in those ways - and since one is thus by definition inferior, one can't appropriately discern their superiority oneself and has to take the other person's word for it. It could be beneficial to oneself, though, to subject oneself to them.


What is your stance on someone declaring themselves to be morally, cognitively or spiritually superior to you?
 
Hell no--anyone who goes around shouting about how superior they all is a schmuck. If they were morally, cognitively or spiritually superior they would be humble/reasonable enough to keep it to themselves.
 
greenberg said:
If a person declares to be morally, cognitively or spiritually superior to you, are you obligated to subject yourself to them?
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Yes, you bloody are. :bugeye: Now get on with the subjegation.
 
greenberg said:
However, it is possible that someone is superior to oneself in those ways
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How :confused:

And I agree with maxg:
maxg said:
Hell no--anyone who goes around shouting about how superior they all is a schmuck. If they were morally, cognitively or spiritually superior they would be humble/reasonable enough to keep it to themselves.
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What is your stance on someone declaring themselves to be morally, cognitively or spiritually superior to you?
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I think one has the obligation to consider them inferior.
 
I'm sensing a lot of negativity towards this idea of inherent superiors. It's really quite disturbing.
 
greenberg said:
If a person declares to be morally, cognitively or spiritually superior to you, are you obligated to subject yourself to them? I realize this might sound like a strange question.
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No, it sounds more like a foolish question. :) Even if we accept, for the sake of the argument, the possibility that they might be telling the truth, how do we know that they are telling the truth? This is no different from a salesman insisting that his widget is superior in functionality, quality, and economy to his competitor's widget. Of course he's going to say that in order to convince you to buy it.
However, it is possible that someone is superior to oneself in those ways - and since one is thus by definition inferior, one can't appropriately discern their superiority oneself and has to take the other person's word for it. It could be beneficial to oneself, though, to subject oneself to them.
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This is not a very good argument. You're downplaying the very high probability that the other person is lying in order to defraud you.
What is your stance on someone declaring themselves to be morally, cognitively or spiritually superior to you?
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If for some odd reason I felt like taking this encounter seriously, I would apply the scientific method. This is a most extraordinary assertion, therefore the person must provide me with extraordinary substantiation, otherwise I am under no obligation to treat his assertion with respect.
GeoffP said:
I'm sensing a lot of negativity towards this idea of inherent superiors. It's really quite disturbing.
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Most of us Americans find this whole discussion disturbing. We don't take kindly to the idea of one person declaring himself someone else's superior. It reminds us too much of slavery and the Holocaust. A lot of us died to put an end to both.
 
ok, I'll say it, since the rest of you dumbasses can't work it out.

Ther superior 'person' is God. There. Now get down on your knees and pray. Pray before God for your worthless, maggot-infested souls.
 
greenberg said:
If a person declares to be morally, cognitively or spiritually superior to you, are you obligated to subject yourself to them?

I realize this might sound like a strange question.
However, it is possible that someone is superior to oneself in those ways - and since one is thus by definition inferior, one can't appropriately discern their superiority oneself and has to take the other person's word for it. It could be beneficial to oneself, though, to subject oneself to them.


What is your stance on someone declaring themselves to be morally, cognitively or spiritually superior to you?
Click to expand...

I think that is a strange thing for someone to do. I also think it might be better if the actual situation was described rather than taking it on in this abstract way. Who did this with you - and not just a category like Christians - how did they express it and in what way did they want you to subject yourself to them. And then on the response side, your part, why did this get at least a bit of a hook in you?

Anyone who is morally, cognitively and spiritually OK does not want others to subject themselves to them. They would find it unpleasant.
 
greenberg said:
However, it is possible that someone is superior to oneself in those ways - and since one is thus by definition inferior, one can't appropriately discern their superiority oneself and has to take the other person's word for it. It could be beneficial to oneself, though, to subject oneself to them.
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If you cannot trust your own perceptive abilities and intuition
1) you have no idea if the above theory is true, so there is no reason to force yourself to listen to, be in the company of someone who i will bet you find it uncomfortable to be around
2) there are so many people who think they are morally superior how the hell are you going to choose which one to follow - unless you do trust your own intuition .

But certainly the guru tradition has many followers. You could google Guru and find someone to follow IF THAT IS WHAT YOUR INTUITION tells you would be a good thing to do.

There is no escape from trusting your own intuition.
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
However, it is possible that someone is superior to oneself in those ways - and since one is thus by definition inferior, one can't appropriately discern their superiority oneself and has to take the other person's word for it. It could be beneficial to oneself, though, to subject oneself to them.
Click to expand...

You're downplaying the very high probability that the other person is lying in order to defraud you.
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It's a double-bind situation, potentially a no-win. There's plenty of this is everday life.
I'm interested in seeing how people would resolve it.
 
greenberg said:
If a person declares to be morally, cognitively or spiritually superior to you, are you obligated to subject yourself to them?
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No.
Absolutely not.
To do so flies in the face of rationality and logic.
It would be an "Appeal to Authority / Emotion / Consequence" etc - classical fallacies.

And then the question is one of how much evidence would an individual need to be convinced of the claim - and that is an entirely subjective matter - although one must of course rationally (and hopefully objectively) assess the evidence.


Plus there is the risk / reward pay-off (cf. Pascal's Wager) - how much would you gain if you followed, given level of evidence available, compared to what you would lose if you didn't.


The Bible was very clever in trying to disparage those who require evidence - in the story of "Doubting Thomas" - where seeking evidence is seen as something shameful.
But it is those who fail to seek evidence, those who blindly follow, that should be shamed - for disregarding one of the tools that evolution has given them - the ability to reason.
 
redarmy11 said:
ok, I'll say it, since the rest of you dumbasses can't work it out.

Ther superior 'person' is God. There. Now get down on your knees and pray. Pray before God for your worthless, maggot-infested souls.
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You're really good! My humble apologies (in accent of Indian from Mind Your Language)
 
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