A new form of Philosophy is springing up in order to combat the stuffy, irrelevant status quo.
It's called Experimental Philosophy and it uses impirical studies of how human beings actually react to certain moral questions. I happen to find some of the questions and findings quite interesting. Here's one that I think is an indicator of whether you have been brainwashed to believe that business is inherently evil. And as a staunch Capitalist, I was surprised to find that I, too, have been brainwashed by Canadian society to believe that businesses are good-for-nothing leeches of society:
"Experimental philosophy is also challenging such basic philosophical notions as "intentional action." What do we mean when we say that someone did something intentionally? Most philosophers assume that we'd all agree that this is a question of the actor's state of mind. Experimentalist Joshua Knobe of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked college students: If a businessman interested only in profits knowingly harms the environment, should we say he did so intentionally? The students answered yes. Yet if the same businessman knowingly helped the environment, they said no. Apparently, intentionality depends not just on an actor's state of mind, but also on the outcome he or she produces."
I must admit that I answered exactly the same way as the students in the study did. I had to sit back and try to figure out why that is. Because, obviously, if I blame one businessman for unintentionally harming the environment, I should, of course, praise another for unintentionally helping it. Of course, most of us cynically point out that he wasn't helping the environment, he was looking after his own self-interests.
I guess...but isn't it hypocritical to blame one and not praise the other?
