Caledonian: “I think rationality has to be the starting point.”
Can you expand on this? A rationalistic moral relativist might say that actions require goals, ultimate goals are arbitrary, and so rationality cannot be the starting point there. In the real world, by the time one is able to entertain ideas like ‘choosing to be more rational’, you’re already going to have goals, preferences, ideas about how you should live your life. So it could be countered that ‘rationality’ never has to supply everything; its purpose will largely be to critique existing purposes, order them by significance, or evaluate new possibilities. Say something more about what you think the role of rationality should be in developing a morality, and about the particular powers it has to fulfil that role.
Caledonian: “I think rationality has to be the starting point.”
Can you expand on this? A rationalistic moral relativist might say that actions require goals, ultimate goals are arbitrary, and so rationality cannot be the starting point there. In the real world, by the time one is able to entertain ideas like ‘choosing to be more rational’, you’re already going to have goals, preferences, ideas about how you should live your life. So it could be countered that ‘rationality’ never has to supply everything; its purpose will largely be to critique existing purposes, order them by significance, or evaluate new possibilities. Say something more about what you think the role of rationality should be in developing a morality, and about the particular powers it has to fulfil that role.