If we could get everyone in the world to agree follow either a set of principles or a set of rules, which do you believe has greater potential for making the world a better place?
Off the top of my head I can imagine people disagreeing on what decisions would fall under what principle, or perhaps applying a principle in a way that isn’t beneficial. And I can't imagine we'd ever have rules for any possible situation. I recognize that both have advantages and disadvantages.
Again, if we could only choose one, I’d like to know which you believe is more effective and why.
Well thought out principles make good rules and good laws.
Rules, in my mind are created for the purpose of controlling people. Principles, on the other hand, are more in the nature of an internal belief system that guides our behavior. That's the problem I have with religion. Following a set of rules and commands doesn't make you a good person, it just makes you obedient.
Rules are too black and white and don't allow for ethical reasoning to handle "gray areas". For example, "don't lie" is a rule that SHOULD be broken if doing so is more ethical, like if the SS is asking you if there are Jews hiding in your attic.
Hi, Zing,
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Principals, and teach people the reasoning behind them. It's a similar distinction between ethics, and morals.
I had a course in ethics in university, and the teacher said that while in the common language they are considered distinct, in academia morals and ethics are synonyms; they are simply the Latin and the Greek words to describe the same reality.
Common usage at the current time rather strongly implies a religious basis for morals, while not for ethics.