Marvin Minsky Quotes

I would like us to think about it more explicitly, and not take our intuitions as the given of ethics, but rather to reflect on it, and be more open about the fact that something is an ethical issues and think what we ought to do about it.

I can only say that, while my own opinions as to ethics do not satisfy me, other people's satisfy me still less.

Dissent is morally neutral. You can correctly call yourself a dissident because you like to kick puppies, but at the end of the day, you're just a jerk who likes to kick puppies.

Morals and criticism are not so properly objects of the understanding as of taste and sentiment.

Philosophy rests on a proposition that whatever is is right. Preaching begins by assuming that whatever is is wrong.

The rules of morality are not the conclusion of our reason.

One has only as much morality as one has philosophy and poetry.

Kant taught us that we should follow just those rules of conduct that we would want everybody to follow. Few find this generalization of The Golden Rule a great help.

Moral philosophy is nothing else but the science of what is good, and evil, in the conversation, and society of mankind. Good, and evil, are names that signify our appetites, and aversions; which in different tempers, customs, and doctrines of men, are different.

If one must do a wrong, it's best to do it pursuing power-otherwise, let's have virtue.

Science, by itself, cannot supply us with an ethic. It can show us how to achieve a given end, and it may show us that some ends cannot be achieved. But among ends that can be achieved our choice must be decided by other than purely scientific considerations. If a man were to say, "I hate the human race, and I think it would be a good thing if it were exterminated," we could say, "Well, my dear sir, let us begin the process with you." But this is hardly argument, and no amount of science could prove such a man mistaken.

Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature

One’s concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with one’s personal interest in the issue.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. This isn’t a good idea. This isn’t right.” “There’s all kinds of right,” he murmured. “On the spectrum, we’re still in the safe zone.” ... “Definitely right. Usually right,” Patch continued. “Mostly right. Maybe right.

I read these words which are the sum of all moral philosophy, and which cut short all the disputes of the casuists: When in doubt if an action is good or bad, refrain.

Tolerance cannot afford to have anything to do with the fallacy that evil may convert itself to good.

The Moral Sense teaches us what is right, and how to avoid it-when unpopular.

Abstractions about right and wrong, whether they are as old as Thou Shalt Not Kill or as modern as Do Your Own Thing, often serve only to confuse and weaken genuine moral decision.

You can't slice up morals.

I doubt not, but from self-evident Propositions, by necessary Consequences, as incontestable as those in Mathematics, the measures of right and wrong might be made out.

Conscience is merely our own judgment of the right or wrong of our actions, and so can never be a safe guide unless enlightened by the word of God.

No one will dare maintain that it is better to do injustice than to bear it.

Cease being intimidated by the argument that a right action is impossible because it does not yield maximum profits, or that a wrong action is to be condoned because it pays.

A wrongdoing doesn't give us the right to do wrong.