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Something that's considered degenerate to one person may not be to another. The default is to use one's own moral systems and ethical foundations to make evaluative claims on what makes a thing or act degenerate, and since moral systems and ethical foundations are not objective or universally absolute, we cannot definitively conclude that a thing or act is degenerate using moral reasoning. We must, therefore, appeal to different bases to make that determination.
The primary basis for determining whether or not a thing or act is degenerate must be, at minimum, teleological, and any appeals to moral systems in evaluating for degeneracy must adhere to its (thing or act) purpose or function. Moral reasoning is then superimposed on the teleological foundation. From here, we can also begin evaluate the degree to which a thing or act is degenerate. When a thing or act deviates from its intended purpose or function it runs the risk of shifting categories and becoming something different. For example, cuckoldry is considered degenerate, because the primary function of a male-female union is to have and raise offspring. However, when a man willingly engages in this behavior, he is actively undermining and working against his own evolutionary success by allowing his mate (failure to mate guard) to carry the DNA of another male and then investing his own time and resources in propagating that DNA. He is, in effect, less of a man, and the purpose of his union with his mate serves an alternative purpose, namely his own pleasure and ego.
Gambling is another example (sociological) of degenerate behavior. The primary function of acquiring resources (money) is to sustain your life and the lives of other members of your clan or tribe, more specicially you own family. By partaking in games of chance and frivolous risk-taking, you are undermining your own ability to perform this function - sometimes neutering that function altogether.
The primary basis for determining whether or not a thing or act is degenerate must be, at minimum, teleological, and any appeals to moral systems in evaluating for degeneracy must adhere to its (thing or act) purpose or function. Moral reasoning is then superimposed on the teleological foundation. From here, we can also begin evaluate the degree to which a thing or act is degenerate. When a thing or act deviates from its intended purpose or function it runs the risk of shifting categories and becoming something different. For example, cuckoldry is considered degenerate, because the primary function of a male-female union is to have and raise offspring. However, when a man willingly engages in this behavior, he is actively undermining and working against his own evolutionary success by allowing his mate (failure to mate guard) to carry the DNA of another male and then investing his own time and resources in propagating that DNA. He is, in effect, less of a man, and the purpose of his union with his mate serves an alternative purpose, namely his own pleasure and ego.
Gambling is another example (sociological) of degenerate behavior. The primary function of acquiring resources (money) is to sustain your life and the lives of other members of your clan or tribe, more specicially you own family. By partaking in games of chance and frivolous risk-taking, you are undermining your own ability to perform this function - sometimes neutering that function altogether.
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