(no subject)

[tinyjo]

"Although it is generally true that people say what they mean and mean what they say"

Are you allowed to put a sweeping general statement like that in the middle of a paper on medical ethics?! I keep being derailed from my reading by stuff like this. There's also

The common morality contains moral norms that bind all persons in all places; no norms are more basic in the moral life … [it] comprises all and only those norms that all morally serious persons accept as authoritative.

I can't decide whether this is so restrictive as to encompass nothing or merely a circular definition which basically boils down to norms that I and people who agree with me (and are therefore morally serious) accept. Thoughts?

Comments

[kateshort]

I think people *think* that they say what they mean, and mean what they say, but I don't think it's always true in the end.

People do change their minds. They bend the truth for certain purposes. They change what they say depending on circumstance. "Does this dress make me look fat?" "Will her parents be home?" "Will there be alcohol at the after-party?" "Have you finished your homework yet?"