In terms of ethical 'right' and 'wrong', how are these terms defined?
Or more importantly what do they really mean?
I feel that the terms are opposites (obviously) but rest on the concept of 'wrongness'.
That is to say, 'right' really means nothing more than 'not wrong' or 'least wrong' and it is 'wrongness' that holds the real meaning.
Not being religious in the traditional sense, I do not believe that there are 'set in stone' rules of right/wrong that can be discovered analytically or through physical science. I think 'wrong' is (and only is) applied to things that the consensus disagree with - or are emotionally assaulted with. This is a very drawn out way of saying “It’s all subjective”. The functional point is, however, that a terrible deed that would normally be considered ‘wrong’ is suddenly made ‘right’ if no one knows about it – because ‘wrong’ is only in the mind.
In a made-up world with two uncooperative tribal villages, most people would consider one totally massacring the other a ‘wrong’ thing. However, if one was to close their eyes and do it – do it and not think about it – then they’d get the benefits (more resources in this example) without feeling the pain of compassion or guilt later on. What was a very ‘wrong’ thing has magically transformed into the ‘right’ thing to do.
Or more importantly what do they really mean?
I feel that the terms are opposites (obviously) but rest on the concept of 'wrongness'.
That is to say, 'right' really means nothing more than 'not wrong' or 'least wrong' and it is 'wrongness' that holds the real meaning.
Not being religious in the traditional sense, I do not believe that there are 'set in stone' rules of right/wrong that can be discovered analytically or through physical science. I think 'wrong' is (and only is) applied to things that the consensus disagree with - or are emotionally assaulted with. This is a very drawn out way of saying “It’s all subjective”. The functional point is, however, that a terrible deed that would normally be considered ‘wrong’ is suddenly made ‘right’ if no one knows about it – because ‘wrong’ is only in the mind.
In a made-up world with two uncooperative tribal villages, most people would consider one totally massacring the other a ‘wrong’ thing. However, if one was to close their eyes and do it – do it and not think about it – then they’d get the benefits (more resources in this example) without feeling the pain of compassion or guilt later on. What was a very ‘wrong’ thing has magically transformed into the ‘right’ thing to do.