badgenome said:
But all systems of ethics ultimately boil down to personal preference anyway. The established schools of thought were created by philosophers in their own images, and people basically just pick and choose what ethics that they personally find to be the most appealing. Still, it's really not as hard as you're making it out to decide how rights should be prioritized. If liberty and self-ownership are the most fundamental rights, everything else flows from that. Therefore human interaction should be voluntary and free of violence and coercion, and anything that requires the initiation of coercion - such as that needed to enforce the claims that you have a right to things provided by others or that you have the right not to hear disagreeable opinions - is wrong. |
Personal preferences in this context means that a person rigs the ethical decision-making so that it comes out to benefit the person doing this all the time. A good system of ethics will causes everyone to yield from time to time, and restrain them as needed. It will also cause them to act with better character.
