Any moral system that tells you to devote 23 hours a day to any one activity isn’t so much inapplicable as wrong. Consequential morality at least must incorporate strategy.
As Hitchens would say, born sick, but commanded to be well.
If your morality is telling you to do something it’s physically impossible for you to do, tell it that it has been over ruled by reality, and should try again.
Whether something is doable is irrelevant when it comes to determining whether it is right.
A separate question is what should we do, which is different from what is right. We should definitely do the most right thing we possibly can, but just because we can’t do something does not mean that it is any less right.
A real example: There’s nothing we can realistically do to stop much of the suffering undergone by wild animals through the predatory instinct. Yet the suffering of prey is very real and has ethical implications. Here we see something which has moral standing even though there appears to be nothing we can do to help the situation (beyond some trivial amount).
Any moral system that tells you to devote 23 hours a day to any one activity isn’t so much inapplicable as wrong. Consequential morality at least must incorporate strategy.
As Hitchens would say, born sick, but commanded to be well.
If your morality is telling you to do something it’s physically impossible for you to do, tell it that it has been over ruled by reality, and should try again.
-Kant’s Law
I guess what I meant is, what happens if what is right is not doable. This has been addressed below though. Thank you!
Whether something is doable is irrelevant when it comes to determining whether it is right.
A separate question is what should we do, which is different from what is right. We should definitely do the most right thing we possibly can, but just because we can’t do something does not mean that it is any less right.
A real example: There’s nothing we can realistically do to stop much of the suffering undergone by wild animals through the predatory instinct. Yet the suffering of prey is very real and has ethical implications. Here we see something which has moral standing even though there appears to be nothing we can do to help the situation (beyond some trivial amount).