3. How can actions be justified?

Actions can be justified in a few ways. The actions we perform are justifiable because they fit into our reality. Reality is the definition of everything we believe in, such as religion. We perform actions because they seem like the right thing to do as we're doing them. Now, as vague as that sounds, it's true. For example, sometimes we do stupid things in the middle of the night like get out of bed and lay on the floor. At that crazy moment in the middle of the night, you had something that told you to get out of bed, maybe you were hot, but most likely you won't remember that something in the morning. Although most people would just peel off a blanket and turn up the AC, getting on the floor was the thing that made sense for you to do at the time in your sleepy state. In "The Day the Universe Changed" the men in Scotland are burning the witch because they thought it was the right thing to do, even though most of the concepts involved are completely unheard of today. The men believed that the poor girl was terrorized by the devil and the only way her soul could be saved was to burn her alive. The men's actions of the burning fit into their reality, as did yours when you got out of bed. Yes, we perform actions because our brain tells us to, but our brain tells us to perform these actions because they fit into our rituals, habits and lifestyle. Actions can be justified because the fit into our reality and our way of life.

Sources:

Class Notes (8/25) "The Day the Universe Changed: Changing Knowledge, Changing Reality"

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford Center for the Study of Language

    and Information, n.d. Web. 2 Sept. 2014. <http://plato.stanford.edu/ 
    entries/reasons-just-vs-expl/#NorVsMotRea>. 

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