Philosophical Questions: Harm

[ysabetwordsmith]

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

How far should governments go to prevent its citizens from causing harm to themselves?


A government ought to prevent people from harming others, but it is not the government's business if people choose to harm themselves. Humans have free will. They may choose to do things which other see as harmful, but they enjoy or find useful. It is particularly egregious when the government tries to take away a coping method without offering a better alternative or changing situations so that it is not needed. It adds insult to injury when the government rails about one thing being dangerous while forcing another dangerous thing on people.

Comments

Re: Yes ...

[acelightning2]

THe Bible is full of things no child should read. Moses' daughters committing incest with him. THe murder of the innocents in order to eliminate the new Messiah. Judith seducing and then beheading the enemy general Holofernes.

And dictionaries contain anotomical information about the naughty bits no child should ever even name.

BUt I read James Joyce's Ulysses because it was banned. Except for the sexually explicit bits it was boring.

And then I read the Koran, just because I wasn't supposed to.

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Mom and I made the local bookstore order The Satanic Verses for us, just because it was banned. Lousy book, I don't think either of us got past the first chapter, but it's a fond family memory.

Re: Yes ...

[acelightning2]

TSV was banned because it mentioned something Mohammed did that he shoudn't have done, like when the French humor magazine printed a cartoon that was unflattering to Mohammed. Normal Muslims would riot in the streets and demand the immediate execution of the person who slandered the Prophet.