Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Deeply unpleasant ...

... Night and Cog.

I like the Greek method of thinking about morality, which is much more relevant than the Judeo-Christian approach with regard to this type of phenomenon [the crimes of the Nazis]. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, we are at fault, in sin, caught between sinful intentions and sinful actions. The Greek attitude is much more straight- forward. I mention this in the book: when Oedipus kills Laios, he does not know that Laios is his father, but the gods don't give a damn; he killed his father.
Intention may figure in morality, but the law judges acts, not intentions. And why is the "Greek method of thinking about morality" more relevant to the crimes of the Nazis, who were hardly acting in ignorance?

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