Actually, I defend the right to free abortion. Torbjorn Tannsjo More Quotes by Torbjorn Tannsjo More Quotes From Torbjorn Tannsjo I do believe that what I have called populist democracy is to be preferred to what I have called elitist democracy. Torbjorn Tannsjo elitist democracy believe In many European countries we have populist indirect democratic systems. The people elect, in a proportionate manner, a parliament. The parliament with all its parties is representative of the political opinions among the citizens. It is reasonable to claim that the people rule itself through the political institutions. Torbjorn Tannsjo political-opinions party country I want to think that there are better ways of obviating murder than to resort to capital punishment, but I realise that this may be wishful thinking on my part. Torbjorn Tannsjo punishment may thinking The best explanation why people agree is that they have converged on true answers. Torbjorn Tannsjo explanation answers people People in different cultures think very differently about abortion. Abortion is not seen as a moral problem for example in Sweden or Russia, but it is seen as a difficult moral problem in China and in the USA. Torbjorn Tannsjo usa russia thinking The Chinese are generally speaking much more reluctant than Westerners to killing as a means to the rescue of lives. Torbjorn Tannsjo chinese killing mean There are some particular moral truths that I believe we have access to (such as the one not to inflict pain on a sentient being for no reason). Torbjorn Tannsjo moral pain believe Normative ethics, pursued as a free, systematic, and critical attempt to find moral truth, regardless of religious and other authorities, is a rather new adventure. Let's wait and see what will happen! Torbjorn Tannsjo religious waiting adventure I am indeed a hedonistic utilitarian. I have defended hedonistic utilitarianism for quite a while. Torbjorn Tannsjo utilitarian utilitarianism hedonistic It is true that it feels very differently to enjoy a good meal, taking part in an interesting conversation, or to think of how successful your children are. Suppose we do all these things at a particular time. How happy are we at the time? We do not need to calculate the value of each such feelings on any singular scale to answer this question. We need not see our happiness at the time as a mathematical function of these items. It is rather that all these experiences, together with many other factors, causally puts us at the time at a certain level of happiness, i.e. in a certain mood. Torbjorn Tannsjo successful children thinking One way of submitting your moral intuitions in relation to some issue to cognitive therapy is to learn more about how people in other cultures think about it. Torbjorn Tannsjo other-cultures issues thinking I have been brought up in a culture where capital punishment is indeed anathema. I have always thought of myself as a principled opponent to capital punishment. However, when thinking about how the topic is handled in other cultures, in particular the American, Russian and Chinese ones, I have realised that my own tack on the issue was utterly superficial. Torbjorn Tannsjo punishment other-cultures thinking It is hard to tell if capital punishment has such an effect. And even if, in some contexts it has (such as in the American South with a very high incidence of murder), this effect may very well go away if a decent welfare state was replaced for the existing social order. Torbjorn Tannsjo punishment going-away order The US two party system is very different, of course. Here the people decides about who should rule them, but it is not reasonable to claim that the people rules itself through the political institutions. In comparison, I find that the standard European system is better, also as a model for global democracy. Torbjorn Tannsjo party two people
