> I think [Smith] is saying you and shag might be the only people *less
> moralistic* (perhaps in the first sense you define i.e., sermonising)
> than him.
Exactly. You're the reader we scribblers dream of.
Personal morality as I understand it is moral intuition, and the very human desire to either do the right thing, or believe at any rate that one is doing the right thing. This is a desire that everybody but a psychopath feels.
Where I agree with Carrol (I think) is in the view that *collectives* (nations, classes, political movements) are not moral agents. They don't have moral intuitions (as individuals do) and they do not hunger and thirst after righteousness (as individuals do). It's silly to apply moral criteria to them, as it would be silly to reprimand a great white shark for eating people.
They are not simply Us writ large. They're a different breed of cat.
-- --
Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com http://cars-suck.org
When one does a foolish thing, it is right to do it handsomely.