Carolina QuotesOur triumphs seem hollow unless we have friends to share them, and our failures are made bearable by their understanding.
James Rachels Connected to the Carolinas
Source
The Elements of Moral Philosophy (1999), p. 183
- year
- 1999
- locator
- p. 183
Cite this record
“Our triumphs seem hollow unless we have friends to share the…” James Rachels. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-BC65F47277. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/bc65f47277
More from James Rachels
Human life will no longer be regarded with the kind of superstitious awe which it is accorded in traditional thought, and the lives of non-humans will no longer be a matter of indifference. This means that human life will, in a sense, be devalued, while the value granted to non-human life will be increased. A revised view of such matters as suicide and euthanasia, as well as a revised view of how we should treat animals, will result.
We should care about the interests of other people for the same reason we care about our own interests; for their needs and desires are comparable to our own.
The doctrine of human dignity says that humans merit a level of moral concern wholly different from that accorded to mere animals; for this to be true, there would have to be some big, morally significant difference between them. Therefore, any adequate defense of human dignity would require some conception of human beings as radically different from other animals. But that is precisely what evolutionary theory calls into question. It makes us suspicious of any doctrine that sees large gaps of any sort between humans and all other creatures. This being so, a Darwinian may conclude that a successful defense of human dignity is most unlikely.