If slavery strikes a slave-owner as right to property, and most people in the slave-owner’s society as right to property, is that also pretty good evidence that slavery is right to property? If homosexuality strikes a person as unnatural, and most of the people in his society as unnatural, is that pretty good evidence that homosexuality is unnatural?
Sure.
It just turns out to be overwhelmed by other evidence that points to these assertions being either false or meaningless. Lots of things are evidence—sometimes even strong evidence—for all kinds of claims, including false claims.
Once we’re talking about probabilistic arguments that affect confidence levels, it’s entirely possible to have legitimate arguments that favor a false conclusion. That’s why cherry-picking evidence is such an effective rhetorical technique, and why continuing to look for and evaluate new evidence is important.
Sure. It just turns out to be overwhelmed by other evidence that points to these assertions being either false or meaningless.
The argument I had in mind was that the beliefs of a particular society are inherently weak evidence for whether something is ethical, and reasonably strong evidence of this can only be gained by looking at the trends of such beliefs in different societies over time.
Of course, I didn’t actually make a case for any of that, but instead went with “This ‘evidence’ gave us absurd results on these few occasions, therefore it must be invalid!!” which is obviously not a valid argument.
It’s clear I’m getting carried away by my own rhetoric here. I’ll try to cut down on the rhetoric and focus on what I actually want to say.
Sure.
It just turns out to be overwhelmed by other evidence that points to these assertions being either false or meaningless. Lots of things are evidence—sometimes even strong evidence—for all kinds of claims, including false claims.
Once we’re talking about probabilistic arguments that affect confidence levels, it’s entirely possible to have legitimate arguments that favor a false conclusion. That’s why cherry-picking evidence is such an effective rhetorical technique, and why continuing to look for and evaluate new evidence is important.
Just sayin’.
The argument I had in mind was that the beliefs of a particular society are inherently weak evidence for whether something is ethical, and reasonably strong evidence of this can only be gained by looking at the trends of such beliefs in different societies over time.
Of course, I didn’t actually make a case for any of that, but instead went with “This ‘evidence’ gave us absurd results on these few occasions, therefore it must be invalid!!” which is obviously not a valid argument.
It’s clear I’m getting carried away by my own rhetoric here. I’ll try to cut down on the rhetoric and focus on what I actually want to say.