It means choosing to feel bad if you're not good.
I am talking about the freedom to pursue happiness when getting happiness conflicts with decent behaviour.
May one? Curious. I would think that someone without a conscience would understand and appreciate the theoretical reasons, but without the desire to be good, why would they follow them?
Indeed not, but, as I said, it diminishes any happiness gained at someone else's expense, and stops you from doing things that harm others. Mostly.
Exactly my thinking.
The point of the question, flawed though it is, is to imagine that you have a choice between being good and being happy. Which would you rather?
Syme's reasoning is what I guess the common reasoning would be, but I don't share it. I don't find it strong enough, because the moment I press that button I don't care about any guarantees of not hurting friends and family. (In fact, doing evil things to friends and family is no more or less unconscionable to me now than doing evil things to strangers.)
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