The Morality of Ideas
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them." -Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew. "People don't have ideas. Ideas have people." -Carl Jung If ideas have agency, or a will of their own, then they can have moral responsibility or a moral/ethical spirit to them. Everybody who has been alive longer than a few years has probably heard someone say "that's a good idea" or "that's a bad idea." These phrases assign morals and ethics to ideas as well as gauging quality . An idea is usually con...