polydad ([personal profile] polydad) wrote in [personal profile] kengr 2017-04-28 12:09 pm (UTC)

A rephrasing

I suggest to you that intentions matter, and can in cases matter a great deal -- but they are not *sufficient*.

If I intend well by you, and I know you are allergic to an ingredient of my "X", I will seek to create a version of the recipe that does not contain that ingredient before seeking to serve it to you.

This would at first seem to be a rather limited intention, and an easy one to fulfill. trying to complicate it to prove a more subtle point:

Let's say you're allergic to onions, and that I know this. This also suggests you *might* be allergic to the entire Allium family, since some onion allergies are actually more general. If I intend well by you, and I want to make you an otherwise-nice food that includes garlic, in order to fulfill my intentions I should ask you how far your allergy extends, and amend my intention as to what food to make for you if you tell me it *does* include garlic.

I agree with your point that intentions aren't enough in and of themselves; they require to be demonstrated in behavior. This is in my view vastly different than intentions being meaningless.

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