Again, it’s just avoiding the word “relative” by talking in a confusing and unnatural way. And I don’t see the difference between talking about “easy” vs. “j-easy” and talking about “right” vs. “p-right”.
The reason people think that Eliezer is really a relativist is that they see concepts like “good” and “right” as reducing down to mean, “the thing that I [the speaker, whoever it is] values.” Eliezer is arguing that that is not what they reduce down to. He argues that “good” and “right” reduce down to something like “concepts related to enhancing the wellbeing of conscious eudaemonic life forms.” It’s not a trick of the language, Eliezer is arguing that “right” refers to [wellbeing related concept] and p-right refers to [primality sorting related concept]. The words “good” and “right” might be relative but the referent [wellbeing of conscious eudaemonic life forms] is not. The reason Eliezer focuses on fairness is that the concept of fairness is less nebulous than the concept of “right” so it is easier to see that it is not arbitrary.
Pebble sorters and humans can both objectively agree on what it means to enhance the wellbeing of conscious eudaemonic life forms. Where they differ is whether they care about doing it. Pebble sorters don’t care about the wellbeing of others. Why would they, unless it happened to help them sort pebbles?
Similarly, humans and pebble sorters can both agree on which pebble heaps are prime-numbered. Where they differ is if they care about sorting pebbles. Humans don’t care about pebble-sorting. Why would they, unless it helped then enhance the wellbeing of themselves and others?
So if you define morality as “the thing that I care about,” then I suppose it is relative, although I think that is not a proper use of the word “morality.” But if you define it as “enhancing the wellbeing of eudaemonic life forms” then it is quite objective.
Now, there might be room for moral disagreement in that people care about different aspects of wellbeing more. But that would be grounds for moral pluralism, not moral relativism. Regardless of what specific aspects of morality people focus on, certain things, like torturing the human population for all eternity, would be immoral [wellbeing non-enhancing] no matter what.
So what is the difference between easy vs j-easy and right vs p-right? Well, easy and j-easy both refer to the concept “can be done with little effort expended, even by someone who is completely new and unpracticed in it.” English is not “easy” because only those practiced in it can speak it with little effort expended. Ditto for Japanese. The concept is the same in both languages. “Right,” by contrast, refers to “enhances wellbeing of eudaemonic creatures,” while p-right refers to “sorting pebbles in prime numbered heaps” They are two completely different concepts and that fact has nothing to do with the language being used.
The reason people think that Eliezer is really a relativist is that they see concepts like “good” and “right” as reducing down to mean, “the thing that I [the speaker, whoever it is] values.” Eliezer is arguing that that is not what they reduce down to. He argues that “good” and “right” reduce down to something like “concepts related to enhancing the wellbeing of conscious eudaemonic life forms.” It’s not a trick of the language, Eliezer is arguing that “right” refers to [wellbeing related concept] and p-right refers to [primality sorting related concept]. The words “good” and “right” might be relative but the referent [wellbeing of conscious eudaemonic life forms] is not. The reason Eliezer focuses on fairness is that the concept of fairness is less nebulous than the concept of “right” so it is easier to see that it is not arbitrary.
Pebble sorters and humans can both objectively agree on what it means to enhance the wellbeing of conscious eudaemonic life forms. Where they differ is whether they care about doing it. Pebble sorters don’t care about the wellbeing of others. Why would they, unless it happened to help them sort pebbles?
Similarly, humans and pebble sorters can both agree on which pebble heaps are prime-numbered. Where they differ is if they care about sorting pebbles. Humans don’t care about pebble-sorting. Why would they, unless it helped then enhance the wellbeing of themselves and others?
So if you define morality as “the thing that I care about,” then I suppose it is relative, although I think that is not a proper use of the word “morality.” But if you define it as “enhancing the wellbeing of eudaemonic life forms” then it is quite objective.
Now, there might be room for moral disagreement in that people care about different aspects of wellbeing more. But that would be grounds for moral pluralism, not moral relativism. Regardless of what specific aspects of morality people focus on, certain things, like torturing the human population for all eternity, would be immoral [wellbeing non-enhancing] no matter what.
So what is the difference between easy vs j-easy and right vs p-right? Well, easy and j-easy both refer to the concept “can be done with little effort expended, even by someone who is completely new and unpracticed in it.” English is not “easy” because only those practiced in it can speak it with little effort expended. Ditto for Japanese. The concept is the same in both languages. “Right,” by contrast, refers to “enhances wellbeing of eudaemonic creatures,” while p-right refers to “sorting pebbles in prime numbered heaps” They are two completely different concepts and that fact has nothing to do with the language being used.