IN> Re: In-Nomine-list Digest, Vol 37, Issue 17

[Bill Adlam]

David Anderson argued:

> In order to find self-satisfaction in having achieved something you
> must think it independently worth achieving.

You may *feel* a warm fuzzy glow about something even if you do not
*think* it was worth doing.  Most people are self-satisfied after
winning  a game, for example, even if there is no prize.  This is no
more an intellectual error than feeling a full stomach without having
eaten a balanced meal.

However, I'm not claiming that selfish people are motivated mostly by
pleasure.  We are satisfied to have achieved our goals, but our goal is
usually something other than satisfaction.

> Ethical egotism has to deny that some courses of action are in your
> interests:...
> Otherwise, all it is saying is that you should do whatever you were
> going to do anyway, which is meaningless.

That's for ethical egotists to worry about.  I'm not an egotist, so why
should I care about their problems? ;)

I'm now wondering if the NPC Habbalite of Fate in my next adventure can
use some more subtle variation of the gentle murder paradox:

If you murder someone, you should murder them gently
If you should murder someone gently, you should murder them
Therefore, if you murder someone, you should murder them

Sagitta