Eliezer: Good post, as always, I’ll repeat that I think you’re closer to me in moral philosophy than anyone else I’ve talked to, with the probable exception of Richard Rorty, from whom I got many of my current views. (You might want to read Contingency, Irony, Solidarity; it’s short, and it talks about a lot of the stuff you deal with here). That said, I disagree with you in two places. Reading your stuff and the other comments has helped me refine what I think; I’ll try to state it here as clearly as possible.
1) I think that, as most people use the words, you’re a moral relativist. I understand why you think you’re not. But the way most people use the word ‘morality,’ it would only apply to an argument that would persuade the ideal philosopher of perfect emptiness. You don’t believe any such arguments exist; neither do I. Thus neither of us think that morality as it’s commonly understood is a real phenomenon. Think of the priest in War of the Worlds who tried to talk to the aliens, explaining that since we’re both rational beings/children of God, we can persuade them not to kill us because it’s wrong. You say (as I understand you) that they would agree that it’s wrong, and just not care, because wrong isn’t necessarily something they care about. I have no problem with any claim you’ve made (well, that I’ve made on your behalf) here; but at this point the way you’re using the word ‘moral’ isn’t a way most people would use it. So you should use some other term altogether.
2) I like to maintain a clearer focus on the fact that, if you care about what’s right, I care about what’s right_1, which is very similar to but not the same as what’s right. Mainly because it helps me to remember there are some things I’m just not going to convince other people of (e.g. I don’t think I could convince the Pope that God doesn’t exist. There’s no fact pattern that’s wholly inconsistent with the property god_exists, and the Pope has that buried deep enough in its priors that I don’t think it’s possible to root it out). But (as of reading your comment on yesterday’s post) I don’t think we disagree on the substance, just on the emphasis.
Thanks for an engaging series of posts; as I said, I think you’re the closest or second-closest I’ve ever come across to someone sharing my meta-ethics.
Eliezer: Good post, as always, I’ll repeat that I think you’re closer to me in moral philosophy than anyone else I’ve talked to, with the probable exception of Richard Rorty, from whom I got many of my current views. (You might want to read Contingency, Irony, Solidarity; it’s short, and it talks about a lot of the stuff you deal with here). That said, I disagree with you in two places. Reading your stuff and the other comments has helped me refine what I think; I’ll try to state it here as clearly as possible.
1) I think that, as most people use the words, you’re a moral relativist. I understand why you think you’re not. But the way most people use the word ‘morality,’ it would only apply to an argument that would persuade the ideal philosopher of perfect emptiness. You don’t believe any such arguments exist; neither do I. Thus neither of us think that morality as it’s commonly understood is a real phenomenon. Think of the priest in War of the Worlds who tried to talk to the aliens, explaining that since we’re both rational beings/children of God, we can persuade them not to kill us because it’s wrong. You say (as I understand you) that they would agree that it’s wrong, and just not care, because wrong isn’t necessarily something they care about. I have no problem with any claim you’ve made (well, that I’ve made on your behalf) here; but at this point the way you’re using the word ‘moral’ isn’t a way most people would use it. So you should use some other term altogether.
2) I like to maintain a clearer focus on the fact that, if you care about what’s right, I care about what’s right_1, which is very similar to but not the same as what’s right. Mainly because it helps me to remember there are some things I’m just not going to convince other people of (e.g. I don’t think I could convince the Pope that God doesn’t exist. There’s no fact pattern that’s wholly inconsistent with the property god_exists, and the Pope has that buried deep enough in its priors that I don’t think it’s possible to root it out). But (as of reading your comment on yesterday’s post) I don’t think we disagree on the substance, just on the emphasis.
Thanks for an engaging series of posts; as I said, I think you’re the closest or second-closest I’ve ever come across to someone sharing my meta-ethics.