Conceputal Purity
A concept is pure when a logical contradiction cannot be reached using its principles.
It is the middle ages, the time of the crusades, and a pious a christian knight is being told to war. The pope wants to take back the holy land from the heathen muslims. He knows that god works through the pope, and thus the murder must be acceptable to god.
However, he knows that the bible says not to murder in any case, and he knows that the bible is god’s word. This tells him that murder is unacceptable to god.
He has a case of murder is acceptable to god, and murder not being acceptable to god, a contradiction.
An American legislator is being pressured by the majority of the population to enact new government-expanding legislation that allows domestic spying. Since America is founded on democratic values, the will of the people should be upheld, and thus this legislation should be enacted.
However, another central tenant is freedom and respect for privacy. This legislation invades privacy and limits freedom, and thus this legislation should not be enacted.
Our legislator must now decide to either respect freedom or respect democracy; he cannot do both.
These examples show how “uncleanliness” in a concept can lead to ruin. Both people have guiding principles, but in the mentioned areas, these principles conflict. The legislator is in an especially problematic spot, because if he erodes freedom, people may tend to value their freedom less, seeing that they haven’t been drug from their homes due to the domestic spying (meanwhile, those who have been are unable to speak out).
I believe that one of the most important concepts in life is conceptual purity. Concepts are pure when they are absent of logical contradictions. This philosophical concept gives helps rid us of problems and conceptual baggage, as a person or a society. There are many questions that need answering in life, and going about answering them in the wrong way can only lead to more problems.
