<html><head></head><body><div><span title="foozler83@gmail.com">William Flynn Wallace</span><span class="detail"> <foozler83@gmail.com></span> , 24/2/2014 5:31 PM:<br><blockquote class="mori" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:2px blue solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div class="mcnt"><div class="mcntgmail_extra"><div class="mcntgmail_quote"><blockquote class="mcntgmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div><blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:2px blue solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div><div style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#0b5394;"><div class="mcntgmail_default" style="display: inline;">Whether 'right' or 'duty' has an existence in an ontological sense plays second fiddle in my thinking. As a psychologist I just look at what people do. People overwhelmingly conform to many of their family's expectations, to their religion's, to their profession's, and to society's. </div></div></div></blockquote></div></blockquote></div></div></div></blockquote></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>I tend to regard being able to question and (in principle) change one's behaviour as a sign of mental health (and ethical thinking). Most people who are mentally ill are stuck with a certain way of thinking and acting, even when it is painful, harmful or against what they wish. By analogy, never questioning one's life is a form of mental condition - not quite an illness, but a lack of flexibility and potential for growth. Most of us of course never rebel against most expectations even if we consider whether to obey them or not: many make sense on one level or another. But being aware that one could do differently is tremendously liberating. <br><div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br><br>Anders Sandberg, Future of Humanity Institute Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University</body></html>