What Is The 'Right' Thing To Do?

Question

How do you determine this?

Answer 1

For being so clearly spelled out for us, ya know...cut and dry, this is the biggest inexact science mankind has ever known. Your 'right' differs from mine, mine from the next person, and so on. My conscience, albeit a weak answer, is what deterines right/wrong for me.

Answer 2

I am not Spike Lee.

You can eliminate that thought from your head.

The "Right" thing to do invites a religious story, but; I'll skip that to go right to the meat of the answer.

I'll also skip the whole "We are all different thing." I assume you know that by now. I assume everybody believes that they are individuals and that right and wrong is relative.

So where am I going?

Right and wrong began with the first choice man made.

Assume that man makes no choices, that as some believe that everything in life is preordained, then there is no right or wrong, only what is, and what is not.

Existence begins with change.

In relationship with that statement, right and wrong begins with the change of man choosing, discriminating, drawing lots, whatever.

But, you focused on right alone like there can be a right without a wrong. I find that interesting in that most assume the opposite of right is wrong. The opposite of right is not right. Wrong is part of not right, but it is not not right. Does that make it right? Not.

Okay, enough fun.

Right is accepted.

Accepted by who does not matter.

Anyone says this is right all they are saying is it is accepted.

Note: this is pretty much why when we talk about people having rights we are in fact saying that it is accepted they these people can do what they want.

Kings are supposed to have divine rights and that is why they are kings. God ordained them to be leader.

People have copyrights which means the world has ordained that these people own this thought or idea or pieces ot prose.

It is accepted that these rights exist.

It is accepted.

Ask yourself, can you have a right without acceptance?

Yes, but that requires that world I told you about where man has no choices, no right to say no, this is wrong, this is bad, that that world exists.

Kant would say there are categorical imperative, ultimate rights, but Kant was a Catholic and for him that world of which I speak is real. God is real. An all knowing all powerful truth is real.

I say to avoid argument drop the word God, insert the word chaos and you wind up in exactly the same spot with the presumption that nothing is certain, therefore nothing is right, and if nothing is right then how are we any different than saying God exists? I know, the differens is people will use the idea of God existing to pronounce themselves king and as I have pointed out they already did that.

On a side note there are leaders in countries that say their power comes from the people but in most of those countries theey say God gave the people certain inalienable rights. Communist countries don't go there but they take a more Darwinian way of figuring out what is right and who has rights by simply saying conflict exists and might makes right, translated "accept this or die".

So did we get the part where I kept saying right = accepted, because most of this is just argument and only that is wisdom.

It is all part of the anwer but After reading a blog on the evils of Wikipedia I feel the need to support my answer with a little more flourish.

I point this out because I know you too have criticized the ease in which you can submit thing to Wiki but having given it some thought I wonder why you and I seem to be the only two people who check the footnotes to see if it is "right" or not.

None of this comes from Wiki so feel free to doubt it a little less.

BTW, when a person complains in a blog like this person did about the sources the answerers used is that not looking a gift horse in the mouth and saying "Is that it?"

"I am sorry but the return counter is to the left."

All my answers are "as is" take it or leave it.

Now was that right?

Could be.

Answer 3

Can you live with your actions? As a rule I never try to hurt others intentionally. Sometimes the right thing is to do nothing. I could use an attraction by a younger woman as an example. I will always remain friendly but if she appears too young I will say hi and lower my head as to say it is off limits. It is a nice way of saying that I am too old for you. I could never take advantage of an innocent person.

Answer 4

If you have allowed yourself a personal relationship with God you will always know the right thing. He grants righteous judgement, a healthy conscience, and a compassionate spirit, we must however accept these as gifts without pride, this can be tough for us mortals but it is definitely possible.
Listen to your heart, but you must be quiet and ready to act on what you hear. Many times the right thing is the hardest, but that is how we build faith and character. Trials and tribulations are the pathway to strength and peace.

Answer 5

We are all taught in different ways. Some of us are brought up in a religious atmosphere, some in an anti-religious one. Some in a bigoted, angry family, some in a pacifist atmosphere. What is "right" to me, something that I would fight for till my last breath, may be something, with your upbringing, you would fight against me till your dying breath. That's politics in a nut shell! The right thing will always be a gray area. Absolute "rightness" may be impossible to achieve. So the right thing to do is follow your conscience! Will you still have opposition? You bet! You get to sleep better though, in following what you believe is right!

Answer 6

It all depends on YOUR notion of right and wrong, which in turn depends on how you've been brought up or the values prised in the society you live in. Two different persons can have completely different notions of right and wrong. So what you consider to be right, may not be right and what you consider to be wrong may not be wrong..

Answer 7

The bible particularly the big TEN are the basis of right and wrong. We can not modify them even if we wanted to, or we get in trouble that we can't seem to explain to ourselves.

Answer 8

Depends on what the "Right Thing" concerns. Honesty always is the best policy.

Answer 9

To me, the right thing to do is what feels most appropriate to the situation.

Answer 10

any thing done with Mindfulness is the right thing