tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4313142402149985813.post6146090587556468037..comments2008-04-22T23:54:50.954+05:30The Minking Thanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14813413262232300793noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4313142402149985813.post-61677003042083826442008-04-22T23:54:00.000+05:302008-04-22T23:54:00.000+05:30@nithin - your explanation was brilliant. It brought a lot of clarity to my train of thoughts and like Srikanth has mentioned it made the issue very clear. I will need more time to think about this now :).The Minking Thanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14813413262232300793noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4313142402149985813.post-16600668544254647352008-04-22T19:07:00.000+05:302008-04-22T19:07:00.000+05:30Hi Anoop,<BR/>Waiting for a blog from you for quite some time. Good subject matter too. <BR/>I think the logical extension that nithin rajan has clearly elaborated is very clear. More discussion on such clear lines is most welcome.<BR/>Regards (to both of you)<BR/>SrikanthNS Srikanthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15370291436183658116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4313142402149985813.post-54837916094854321032008-04-19T19:33:00.000+05:302008-04-19T19:33:00.000+05:30By no means a conclusion, but a continutaion of the trains of thought...<BR/><BR/>If one is doing what he/she believe is right, then he must be doing good. If you think about it, that is the best we can to as rational beings.<BR/><BR/>But then, how does one make a choice between right and wrong? I believe there are two broad ways by which one can (and mostly does) make the choice.<BR/><BR/>One is by pure logical reasoning: If I can tell whether what I am going to do harms someone directly or indirectly, then it is wrong. Luckily, most laws of the land are based on such reasoning. For example, the law tells me that it is wrong to throw rubbish on the road. It doesn't tell why, but when I think about it, it is clear why there is such a law. It is to avoid inconvenience to the public. But then, there are also laws that do not lend to such clear analysis. For example, why does the law want me to pay more tax if I earn more? If I think deeply enough, that has a reasoing too - if I am earning more, then that makes me more responsible to contribute to the system which helped me in the first place to earn more. So, on the whole, if I follow the laws of the land, then I can be reasonably sure that I am doing no wrong. (There are of course times when law conflicts with logical reasoning - that can be subject to another discussion:))<BR/><BR/>Second, (this is touchy and complicated) is when one relies on belief systems rather than pure logic. Belief systems which needn't be always based on rational reasoning, but faith (religeous, political or philosophical). Moslty the subjects are those where laws haven't been clearly formulated, or are being constantly questioned. Questions like, whether gay marriage is wrong? Whether stem cell research is bad? and hundreds of others. One can arrange many logical arguments for these, and as many against..and still not be convinced about what is right and what is wrong. Faith presents an easy way out. <BR/><BR/>All fine so far, but there are times when one may chose to apply a belief system, when there is a clear law (backed by logic) that can be applied to the same question. And what does one do when the results of the second method clashes with the first? Depends on person to person. For a terrorist about to blow up a plane, logical reasoning may tell him that he is doing wrong, but he may have a belief system that vehemently tells him that if he blows up the plane, he is doing good. He may push logic to the back seat, or even forget to be logical at all...<BR/><BR/>Open to more thoughts.Nithin Rajanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16007647956253340118noreply@blogger.com