I’d like to address one point.
No, it isn’t your duty to go above and beyond and do good deeds to and for your fellow man.
And I can see why many would cringe at the idea that there is some kind of “moral obligation” to donate to the poor, help someone in need, etc.
But morality on a communal level is about caring. Once you’ve established that you care about other people, the so called “obligation” to do good unto others is quite a natural response.
Simply NOT DOING harm to others doesn’t cement a community (assuming you even want to belong to a community - like a real living community who shares resources and recognizes contributions to the community). NOT DOING will allow the community to continue on the barest level. It is when you start to contribute; when you start to care about something beyond your own needs; that a relationship or a community can begin to COOPERATE.
That feature of “caring” (which Heidegger believed was the most fundamental feature of being) is severely lacking in today’s world.
It’s a dog eat dog world. The inequity of wealth is unbelievable. The attitude of me, my self, and I runs so deep through the hearts and minds of people that we no longer live in communities. We don’t know our neighbours. We avoid our neighbours. “Stay the fuck out of my business and I’ll stay the fuck out of yours! How about that?”
This is the attitude that prevails today. And, many cringe at the idea that there’s more to morality, because there’s nothing worse than someone at the pulpit guilt tripping us into putting money into the collection plate.
I get that. What I don’t get is a person who never learns to care about the well being of his fellow man. Never recognizes that he or she needs us as badly as we need them.
Bezo’s may have become a billionaire by making the necessities of life available to the masses. But he didn’t build a community. The side effect of that man now having the money and means to fly into near earth orbit is a disparate group of people who have forgotten what working together towards a common goal means.
And we’ve sacrificed our freedom for a slave like existence. We’ve failed to realize that when we ignore others, keep to our selves, and simply want that “fuck off” life style, we automatically buy into a job and play life style that distances us from the very freedom we once had to control our destinies. It’s our own damn fault for not caring.