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Quotes from Painism: A Modern Morality — Richard D. Ryder

born 1940 England

← All quotes by Richard D. Ryder

6 quotes

Our first moral concern should always be with the individual who is the maximum sufferer.

Painism: A Modern Morality (2001)

It is always wrong to cause pain to A merely in order to increase the pleasure of B.

Painism: A Modern Morality (2001)

Their experiences may be more simple than ours, but are they less intense? Perhaps a caterpillar’s primitive pain when squashed is greater than our more sophisticated sufferings.

Painism: A Modern Morality (2001)

We have an obligation to try to reduce the pains of others, wherever they are, and however the pains have been caused.

Painism: A Modern Morality (2001)

Perhaps there is too much talk of justice, equality and liberty in political philosophy, and not enough about suffering. It is suffering that matters morally …

Painism: A Modern Morality (2001)

… it is less imperatively my duty to give pleasure than it is to alleviate pain. If someone else is not actually suffering then it seems more acceptable to leave to them … the provision of their own pleasures.

Painism: A Modern Morality (2001)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Richard D. Ryder (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.