The Dangers of Minding Other People's Business and the Merits of Minding Your Own

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The first half of the book discusses the dangers of minding other people's business, emphasizing that utilitarianism may undervalue simple, meaningful actions. It warns against becoming a moralizer by overstepping boundaries when enforcing morality, highlighting the limitations on our rights to intervene. These limitations include the insignificance of the issue, lack of sufficient information, complexity of the situation, unclear circumstances, lack of social standing, being a hypocrite, and not having the appropriate social role. The moralizer tends to enforce morality despite these limitations, thus intruding where they don't belong.

Attend the graduation of a college senior, and the commencement speech is likely to include a few themes: Do something big. Make a name for yourself. Change the world.

My guest is not a fan of this advice, and says that rather than focusing on solving large-scale problems, we ought to concentrate on making things better in our own backyards.

Brandon Warmke is a professor of philosophy and the co-author of Why It's OK to Mind Your Own Business. Today on the show, Brandon explains why what he calls "commencement speech morality" distorts our moral vision by emphasizing one version of the good and valuable life, at the expense of the value and good of a life marked by "ordinary morality." Brandon first unpacks the dangers of intervening in other people's business, including becoming a moralizer and a busybody. He then makes a case for the benefits of minding your own business and putting down roots, creating a good home, and living in solitude, and for how a smaller, quieter life can still be generous, important, and noble.