“Sorry if I wasn’t clear! I don’t understand what do you mean by the term “personally obliged”. I looked it up on Google and could not find anything related to it. Could you precisely defined the term and how it differs from ethically obliged? As I said, I don’t really think in terms of obligations, and so maybe this is why I don’t understand it.”
OK, a literal interpretation could work for you. So, while your ethics might oblige you to an action X, you yourself are not personally obliged to perform action X. Why are you not personally obliged? Because of how you consider your ethics. Your ethics are subject to limitations due to self-care, enlightened self-interest, or the proximity principle. You also use them as guidelines, is that right? Your ethics, as you describe them, are not a literal description of how you live or a do-or-die set of rules. Instead, they’re more like a perspective, maybe a valuable one incorporating information about how to get along in the world, or how to treat people better, but only a description of what actions you can take in terms of their consequences. You then go on to choose actions however you do and can evaluate your actions from your ethical perspective at any time. I understand that you do not directly say this but it is what I conclude based on what you have written. Your ethics as rules for action appear to me to be aspirational.
I wouldn’t choose consequentialism as an aspirational ethic. I have not shared my ethical rules or heuristics on this forum for a reason. They are somewhat opaque to me. That said, I do follow a lot of personal rules, simple ones, and they align with what you would typically expect from a good person in my current circumstances. But am I a consequentialist? No, but a consequentialist perspective is informative about consequences of my actions, and those concern me in general, whatever my goals.
You wrote:
“Sorry if I wasn’t clear! I don’t understand what do you mean by the term “personally obliged”. I looked it up on Google and could not find anything related to it. Could you precisely defined the term and how it differs from ethically obliged? As I said, I don’t really think in terms of obligations, and so maybe this is why I don’t understand it.”
OK, a literal interpretation could work for you. So, while your ethics might oblige you to an action X, you yourself are not personally obliged to perform action X. Why are you not personally obliged? Because of how you consider your ethics. Your ethics are subject to limitations due to self-care, enlightened self-interest, or the proximity principle. You also use them as guidelines, is that right? Your ethics, as you describe them, are not a literal description of how you live or a do-or-die set of rules. Instead, they’re more like a perspective, maybe a valuable one incorporating information about how to get along in the world, or how to treat people better, but only a description of what actions you can take in terms of their consequences. You then go on to choose actions however you do and can evaluate your actions from your ethical perspective at any time. I understand that you do not directly say this but it is what I conclude based on what you have written. Your ethics as rules for action appear to me to be aspirational.
I wouldn’t choose consequentialism as an aspirational ethic. I have not shared my ethical rules or heuristics on this forum for a reason. They are somewhat opaque to me. That said, I do follow a lot of personal rules, simple ones, and they align with what you would typically expect from a good person in my current circumstances. But am I a consequentialist? No, but a consequentialist perspective is informative about consequences of my actions, and those concern me in general, whatever my goals.
In a submission to the Red Team Contest a few months back, I wrote up my thoughts on beliefs and altruistic decision-making.
I also wrote up some quick thoughts about longtermism in longtermists should self-efface.
I’ve seen several good posts here about longtermism, and one that caught my eye is A Case Against Strong Longtermism
In case you’re wondering, I am not a strong longtermist.
Thanks for the discussion, let me know your feedback and comments on the links I shared if you like.