There may or may not be a reality external to myself, but let's assume there is, because without that it gets pretty boring in here.
Based on that assumption, there are other people* out there. There's also a "universe" (for the sake of argument). I have no evidence whatsoever that the universe cares one whit about my survival or anyone else's, but I've also no evidence that it's actively malevolent, so I'm assuming for now that it's neutral.
I don't presently believe in any universal rights. Rights imply some shared notion of Good, which I've yet to discover. I do believe that, in general, "Do unto others as they would do unto you, but do it first" with a default stance of "co-operate" is pretty effective at keeping me alive, well-fed and privileged enough to have time and energy to blog and equipment with which to blog.
Empirical science - with a healthy dose of scepticism to look out for possible disproofs - appears to date to be the best tool I have to comprehend the external reality. However, I'm aware of the limits of scientific methods, the fallibility of scientists and the presence of metaphysics.
no subject
I'm me.
There may or may not be a reality external to myself, but let's assume there is, because without that it gets pretty boring in here.
Based on that assumption, there are other people* out there. There's also a "universe" (for the sake of argument). I have no evidence whatsoever that the universe cares one whit about my survival or anyone else's, but I've also no evidence that it's actively malevolent, so I'm assuming for now that it's neutral.
I don't presently believe in any universal rights. Rights imply some shared notion of Good, which I've yet to discover. I do believe that, in general, "Do unto others as they would do unto you, but do it first" with a default stance of "co-operate" is pretty effective at keeping me alive, well-fed and privileged enough to have time and energy to blog and equipment with which to blog.
Empirical science - with a healthy dose of scepticism to look out for possible disproofs - appears to date to be the best tool I have to comprehend the external reality. However, I'm aware of the limits of scientific methods, the fallibility of scientists and the presence of metaphysics.
I look forward to seeing what happens next.
* Cats are people too.