Where do you attain your goals, if not from empathy?
This is a quick question?! But I'll give it a shot. My goal in any given situation is usually predefined based on past experience and the conclusions I've drawn from that. For instance, I went to college to become an engineer because I concluded that while money is not the only requirement for happiness, it helps. Therefore, I chose a profession that gives me financial comfort in my (American) society, as well as because I'm very good at math. My highest goal in life is to find a woman who makes me happy enough to spend decades with her. The reason I chose this goal is because I'm selfish enough to spend my life pursuing my own happiness. Happiness in itself is a huge topic, but I concluded that one part of it is from being interested by outside input from other people or concepts. Since I tend to find the majority of people stupid and boring, any large scale group function is out. I could pursue a close circle of friends (and probably will), but American society is pretty predisposed towards marriage in the first place, so I chose that. For argument's sake, if I believed strongly in morality and placing the good of others above my own, I would've chosen to dedicate my life towards science or government service or charity, since I consider myself among the more intelligent and capable (I'm aware that I am not genius-level however). The concept of empathy setting my goals pretty alien, perhaps you could elaborate?
There's a reason most ethical theories and religions try so hard to convince you to do the right thing. It's because it's often really hard to do the right thing.
If a person strongly believes that putting their interest above another's is evil and strongly believes that they do not want to be evil, doesn't that effectively make it hard for them to commit a consciously evil action?
There are a very large number of antihero fanfics in the Harry Potter fandom; turning Harry into a Dark Lord, after all, is one of the major time-honored tropes in the fandom.
I don't really want a protagonist that becomes a Dark Lord, and anti-hero is a pretty broad term. I like some anti-heroes and hate others. In regards to power specifically, I think it's appropriate for Harry to pursue power because he is born with it and cannot remove it from himself (either in magical ability, wealth, or fame, depending on the fic). He logically has to pursue power because he has to defend himself against powerful individuals. The only real way for him to avoid that is to fake his own death. I like Alexandra's base circumstances for the same reasons - she has reason for pursuing that power for her own self-defence and happiness. Most fanfic authors eventually screw this up (for me) by either having the protagonist in these circumstances eschew power (which is stupid and self-harmful in these cases) or the protagonist deciding to use that power for the fluffy goodness of all or just to subjugate everyone, which is a lot of work for what purpose? As a result, I end up only happy with a narrow range of fics with a powerful, intelligent, somewhat selfish protagonist pursuing their happiness. To date, probably only jbern's works or Chris Widger's Grey Maiden series has met those narrow confines of a work that I find truly delightful, although a few dozen others have earned a spot in my favorites for various reasons. AQ has the potential too, depending on how Alex goes (thus my reason for being here).
If you've got any recommendations that fit that, I'd be happy to hear them, although after several years of reading HP fanfiction, it's somewhat unlikely that I haven't found them by now. The Dresden Files and Song of Fire and Ice (although bloated) series are some non-fanfic examples of what I enjoy. Even though Harry Dresden violates that rule a bit by pursuing the use of power for greater good initially rather than for self defense of him and his.
If you have any another specific questions regarding my views that you felt were unclear, ask away. I don't mind explaining it. We've certainly touched on more than a few very broad topics, and much of that was spent explaining the contradictions between my views and others rather than specifically detailing my own.
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This is a quick question?! But I'll give it a shot. My goal in any given situation is usually predefined based on past experience and the conclusions I've drawn from that. For instance, I went to college to become an engineer because I concluded that while money is not the only requirement for happiness, it helps. Therefore, I chose a profession that gives me financial comfort in my (American) society, as well as because I'm very good at math. My highest goal in life is to find a woman who makes me happy enough to spend decades with her. The reason I chose this goal is because I'm selfish enough to spend my life pursuing my own happiness. Happiness in itself is a huge topic, but I concluded that one part of it is from being interested by outside input from other people or concepts. Since I tend to find the majority of people stupid and boring, any large scale group function is out. I could pursue a close circle of friends (and probably will), but American society is pretty predisposed towards marriage in the first place, so I chose that. For argument's sake, if I believed strongly in morality and placing the good of others above my own, I would've chosen to dedicate my life towards science or government service or charity, since I consider myself among the more intelligent and capable (I'm aware that I am not genius-level however). The concept of empathy setting my goals pretty alien, perhaps you could elaborate?
There's a reason most ethical theories and religions try so hard to convince you to do the right thing. It's because it's often really hard to do the right thing.
If a person strongly believes that putting their interest above another's is evil and strongly believes that they do not want to be evil, doesn't that effectively make it hard for them to commit a consciously evil action?
There are a very large number of antihero fanfics in the Harry Potter fandom; turning Harry into a Dark Lord, after all, is one of the major time-honored tropes in the fandom.
I don't really want a protagonist that becomes a Dark Lord, and anti-hero is a pretty broad term. I like some anti-heroes and hate others. In regards to power specifically, I think it's appropriate for Harry to pursue power because he is born with it and cannot remove it from himself (either in magical ability, wealth, or fame, depending on the fic). He logically has to pursue power because he has to defend himself against powerful individuals. The only real way for him to avoid that is to fake his own death. I like Alexandra's base circumstances for the same reasons - she has reason for pursuing that power for her own self-defence and happiness. Most fanfic authors eventually screw this up (for me) by either having the protagonist in these circumstances eschew power (which is stupid and self-harmful in these cases) or the protagonist deciding to use that power for the fluffy goodness of all or just to subjugate everyone, which is a lot of work for what purpose? As a result, I end up only happy with a narrow range of fics with a powerful, intelligent, somewhat selfish protagonist pursuing their happiness. To date, probably only jbern's works or Chris Widger's Grey Maiden series has met those narrow confines of a work that I find truly delightful, although a few dozen others have earned a spot in my favorites for various reasons. AQ has the potential too, depending on how Alex goes (thus my reason for being here).
If you've got any recommendations that fit that, I'd be happy to hear them, although after several years of reading HP fanfiction, it's somewhat unlikely that I haven't found them by now. The Dresden Files and Song of Fire and Ice (although bloated) series are some non-fanfic examples of what I enjoy. Even though Harry Dresden violates that rule a bit by pursuing the use of power for greater good initially rather than for self defense of him and his.
If you have any another specific questions regarding my views that you felt were unclear, ask away. I don't mind explaining it. We've certainly touched on more than a few very broad topics, and much of that was spent explaining the contradictions between my views and others rather than specifically detailing my own.