The expanding circle of ethics is a a good way to portray our ethics hierarchy that I had not come across before. I see this circle as moving, since some people include all animals, most people would include slaves now. But we do start with those closest to us and move into a wider circle. It is easier for us to help our self, family, community than the wider population, as the latter is more abstract and complicated. Furthermore, by reading this article and comments, it makes me think of part of a Terry Pratchett book where the main character talks of there being a noise in the street; by the fact that it is public, it is everyone’s problem, and therefore nobody’s problem. We think we have some responsibility to help more globally, but there are so many other people who we think will be or could be. Arguably it is also in our human nature to be self-interested, so unless we can see the harm to ourselves, we will in general be less likely to take positive action to help.
The expanding circle of ethics is a a good way to portray our ethics hierarchy that I had not come across before. I see this circle as moving, since some people include all animals, most people would include slaves now. But we do start with those closest to us and move into a wider circle. It is easier for us to help our self, family, community than the wider population, as the latter is more abstract and complicated. Furthermore, by reading this article and comments, it makes me think of part of a Terry Pratchett book where the main character talks of there being a noise in the street; by the fact that it is public, it is everyone’s problem, and therefore nobody’s problem. We think we have some responsibility to help more globally, but there are so many other people who we think will be or could be. Arguably it is also in our human nature to be self-interested, so unless we can see the harm to ourselves, we will in general be less likely to take positive action to help.