Pater Familias

Theories, observations, and articles, by Philip Schaefer · All posts · Categories

EXPLAINING HOW GREEN CONSUMERS MIGHT BEHAVE BADLY—THE DANGERS OF FEELING VIRTUOUS.

March 26, 2010 at 8:58 PM · Uncategorized

EXPLAINING HOW GREEN CONSUMERS MIGHT BEHAVE BADLY—THE DANGERS OF FEELING VIRTUOUS. Julian Baggini, the author of the Guardian article, entitled “Goodies Behaving Badly”, says that he is not surprised by the findings and notes a report that found that people who were most concerned about the environment were more likely to take long-haul flights. However, Baggini also places the behavior of environmentalists in a general ethical context and points to the traditional view that pride leads to bad behavior. Virtuous acts can confuse our judgment: “If we think we are “good people” we might think less about the possibility that we might actually be doing wrong.”