Is it ok to mash the two options together? I’d take the position that morality is about what people want, but that since it is about something that is real (wants) and thus objective/quantifiable/etc you can make statements about these real things that are actually true or false and not subject to whims.
To take a stab at a few of these...
Some terminal values can’t be changed (or only very slightly), they are the ones we are born with. Aversion to pain, desire for sex, etc. The more maleable ones that can be changed are never changed through logic or reasoning. They are changed through things like praise, rewards, condemnation, punishments. I’m not sure if it’s possible for people to change their own maleable terminal values. But people can change other’s maleable terminal values (and likewise, have their own terminal values changed by others) through such methods. Obviously this is much easier to do very early in life.
I’d also like to propose that all terminal values can also be viewed as instrumental values on their tendency to help fulfill or prevent the realization of other values. “Staying alive”, for example.
Moral progress is made by empirical observation of what desires/aversions have the greatest tendency to fulfill other desires, and then by strengthening these by the social tools mentioned above.
You can very easily want to change your desires when several of your desires are in conflict. I have a desire to inhale nicotine, and a desire to not get lung cancer, and I realize these two are at odds. I’d much prefer to not have the first desire. If one of your wants has significant consequences (loss of friends, shunning by your family) then you often would really like that want to change.
“Doing something they shouldn’t” or “wanting something they know is wrong” are demonstrations of the fact that all entities have many desires, and sometimes these desires are in conflict. A husband might want to have an extra-marital affair due to a desire for multiple sexual partners, and yet “know it’s wrong” due to an aversion to hurting his wife, or losing his social status, or alienating his children, or various other reasons.
Am I not allowed to construct an alien mind that evaluates morality differently? What will stop me from doing so?
Can you elaborate on this? You seem to be using “allowed” in a strange way. If you have the means to do this, and others lack the means to physically restrain you from doing so, then the only thing that would stop you would be your own desires and aversions.
Is it ok to mash the two options together? I’d take the position that morality is about what people want, but that since it is about something that is real (wants) and thus objective/quantifiable/etc you can make statements about these real things that are actually true or false and not subject to whims.
To take a stab at a few of these...
Some terminal values can’t be changed (or only very slightly), they are the ones we are born with. Aversion to pain, desire for sex, etc. The more maleable ones that can be changed are never changed through logic or reasoning. They are changed through things like praise, rewards, condemnation, punishments. I’m not sure if it’s possible for people to change their own maleable terminal values. But people can change other’s maleable terminal values (and likewise, have their own terminal values changed by others) through such methods. Obviously this is much easier to do very early in life.
I’d also like to propose that all terminal values can also be viewed as instrumental values on their tendency to help fulfill or prevent the realization of other values. “Staying alive”, for example.
Moral progress is made by empirical observation of what desires/aversions have the greatest tendency to fulfill other desires, and then by strengthening these by the social tools mentioned above.
You can very easily want to change your desires when several of your desires are in conflict. I have a desire to inhale nicotine, and a desire to not get lung cancer, and I realize these two are at odds. I’d much prefer to not have the first desire. If one of your wants has significant consequences (loss of friends, shunning by your family) then you often would really like that want to change.
“Doing something they shouldn’t” or “wanting something they know is wrong” are demonstrations of the fact that all entities have many desires, and sometimes these desires are in conflict. A husband might want to have an extra-marital affair due to a desire for multiple sexual partners, and yet “know it’s wrong” due to an aversion to hurting his wife, or losing his social status, or alienating his children, or various other reasons.
Am I not allowed to construct an alien mind that evaluates morality differently? What will stop me from doing so?
Can you elaborate on this? You seem to be using “allowed” in a strange way. If you have the means to do this, and others lack the means to physically restrain you from doing so, then the only thing that would stop you would be your own desires and aversions.