tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post6895701525962880185..comments2024-03-29T01:07:30.224-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Moral Self-IndulgenceStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-25535494962902796052015-03-10T07:14:29.631-07:002015-03-10T07:14:29.631-07:00K Cups are largely recyclable with some work. The...K Cups are largely recyclable with some work. The foil top is not. The filter & grounds go in the compost, the little plastic cup go into the recycling.<br /><br />Better are the eco-friendly versions without the plastic cup which let the grounds dangle in a in a filter.Larrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-90502964885463863192015-03-09T19:59:24.581-07:002015-03-09T19:59:24.581-07:00And they had a chance to preen about their nobilit...And they had a chance to preen about their nobility in voting for a black president as well.sestamibinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-54221523543597511762015-03-09T14:34:33.987-07:002015-03-09T14:34:33.987-07:00It can seem to get rather whiny to try to judge ot...It can seem to get rather whiny to try to judge other people's motivational systems, and adding in President Clinton at the end seemed bizarrely off-topic, or are we to assume Clinton's "dalliances" are his "rewards" for doing housework perhaps?!<br /><br />re: Anyone who believes that their virtuous behavior entitles them to a material reward, one that they can confer on themselves, is not really being virtuous.<br /><br />This is a good question. And I agree if you have to reward yourself for doing the "right thing".<br /><br />But some right things are just a matter of starting a good habit, so you only need an initial help, and the "self-indulgence", can be temporary rather than a permanent state.<br /><br />If a doctor gives a child a lollipop for being cooperative, will this encourage the child to become a Pavlov's Dog, requiring a lollipop every time he is cooperative, or will he learn being cooperative is its own reward and stop needing a reward? <br /><br />So that's the nature of predicament of any sort of rewards for behavior.<br /><br />And I do see its the same with the ideas of wives exchanging sex privledges for husband's doing more housework. <br /><br />Like if a promise of Friday night sex if a husband lowers the toilet seat all week helps him pay attention to his behavior, then perhaps at the end of the week he'll understand it is important to her, and he'll keep doing it after the first reward, without any extra incentives?<br /><br />The whole punishment/reward system itself is surely flawed if used too often, but it would seem its value is in "training" our superego to see other people's points of view, and once we "internalize" other people's needs, we can consider them at least objectively as important as our own, and not need rewards. <br /><br />On the other hand, the superego can learn "wrong lessons" as well, internalize false agreements in how the world works, so like if your religion teached you to "turn the other cheek", you may let yourself be abused for a long time before you wonder why it is your duty but not other people's duty to not hit.<br /><br />And a martyr may feel "virtuous" without ever standing up for "her"self, and redirect resentment into idealism - seeing "her" rewards in heaven someday while her persecutors burn in hell. I mean at least that's a nonmaterial reward, but eternal rewards are worth material suffering, right? <br /><br />So virtue would seem to always be messy.<br /><br />I guess the trick to know if something is virtue or not is to ask "If I'm expressing a virtue on the assumption of future reward, if I KNEW that reward would never come, would I still do the right thing?" <br /><br />I mean there's no fixed answer, but you can ask in every instance of expressing virtuous action. If the answer is no, then you need to take care about resentment. There's something that needs attention.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-87047908697333188412015-03-09T13:40:46.507-07:002015-03-09T13:40:46.507-07:00They lie to us, and they lie to themselves, but th...They lie to us, and they lie to themselves, but that's OK, they know they're "good people".Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.com