Lifeboat Scenaria

Nobody asked but …

Voluntaryism is really pretty simple.  Let me quote Skyler’s latest column, The Ethics of Voluntaryism — “We who value morality and doing the right thing have an obligation – self-imposed – to find a philosophy compatible with moral living. Voluntaryism is that philosophy.”  Here is an answer for those who want to pose endless lifeboat scenaria trying to trip you up in your philosophy. Ask if the discusion is going to be about valuing morality and doing the right thing.  Wikipedia addresses the lifeboat scenario in its narrow sense, but I refer to the genre of what-if.  For instance, people are jumping to all sorts of faulty conclusions about the ebola scare.  But the politicians who use it to put their opponent behind the 8-ball are the least moral of all.  No amount of political speculation and goading can cure a single patient.  What if we had an ebola csar?  What if we stopped all direct flights from Africa?  When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not unicorns.

kilgore forelle