“I was conscripted to military service, and my gut feeling was to refuse to serve. I did not want to kill other people. This seemed to me wrong, if not in principle, so at least in practice.” PeopleIfsWantFeelingsPrinciplesPracticeMilitaryRefuseGutsGut FeelingsMilitary Service Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“How could it be that I had a legal obligation to kill people I did not know, and who did certainly not consent to it, while my father's doctor could not help my father to die when my farther asked for it? My consternation brought me to moral philosophy and a life-long search for an answer to the question when and why we should, and when we shouldn't, kill.” PeopleKnowsShouldLongPhilosophyHelpingDiesFatherAnswersMoralDoctorsObligationConsentLong LifeMoral PhilosophyConsternation Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“Even where people in different cultures agree they may all have gone wrong.” PeopleMayDifferentCultureGoneAgreeDifferent Cultures Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“The best explanation why people agree is that they have converged on true answers.” PeopleAnswersAgreeExplanation Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“People in different cultures think very differently about abortion. Abortion is not seen as a moral problem for example in Sweden or Russia, but it is seen as a difficult moral problem in China and in the USA.” PeopleThinkingDifferentProblemCultureDifficultMoralExampleChinaRussiaUsaAbortionSwedenDifferent Cultures Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“One way of submitting your moral intuitions in relation to some issue to cognitive therapy is to learn more about how people in other cultures think about it.” PeopleThinkingWayCultureMoralIssuesRelationIntuitionOne WayTherapyCognitiveOther CulturesCognitive Therapy Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“I have now come to the conclusion (roughly) that capital punishment is defensible, if it can be shown to have a deterrent effect on murder. In that case, a few executions save not only some people from being murdered but also some people from becoming murders.” PeopleIfsCasesEffectsBecomingMurderPunishmentConclusionExecutionCapital PunishmentDeterrent Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“My conjecture is that most people will refuse to let go, even when their lives have become boring (at least in comparisons with possible lives lived by new generations). If this happens, there will eventually be no room for new generations. A kind of collective irrationality will lead to a bleak life for the last generation that decides to stay around. Unless we put and end to the human race (through global warming, for example), before this happens, individual egoism will block the path to a better world.” PeopleIfsWorldHumansKindEndsHappensLastsIndividualRoomsRacePathGenerationsExampleLetting GoRefuseBoringBlockHuman RaceGlobal WarmingCollectivesComparisonEgoismNew GenerationBleakIrrationalityConjecture Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“It is quite possible that we will soon come to live under some sort of global despotism, enlightened or not. This is not a nice prospect. And there is only one way of avoiding that this happens: to establish a global democracy. And it is not too late to strive for such a democracy, of a straightforward populist nature, where people on the globe elect a world parliament, which in turn elects a world government.” PeopleWorldWayGovernmentHappensTurnsDemocracyNiceLateStriveOne WayToo LateEnlightenedGlobesAvoidingParliamentStraightforwardDespotismWorld GovernmentPopulist Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“In many European countries we have populist indirect democratic systems. The people elect, in a proportionate manner, a parliament. The parliament with all its parties is representative of the political opinions among the citizens. It is reasonable to claim that the people rule itself through the political institutions.” PeopleCountryPoliticalPartyOpinionCitizensClaimsInstitutionsDemocraticReasonableRepresentativesParliamentIndirectPopulistEuropean CountriesPolitical OpinionsPolitical Institutions Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“The US two party system is very different, of course. Here the people decides about who should rule them, but it is not reasonable to claim that the people rules itself through the political institutions. In comparison, I find that the standard European system is better, also as a model for global democracy.” PeopleShouldTwoDifferentPoliticalCoursesPartyDemocracyModelsStandardsClaimsInstitutionsReasonableComparisonPolitical InstitutionsTwo Party System Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“The democratic thought is based on that 'ordinary people' are suitable to rule themselves.” PeopleDemocracyOrdinaryDemocraticOrdinary PeopleSuitable Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
