Well, yes. You can’t tell if something is good or bad without looking at any evidence. And if the first bit of evidence you see is “slavery is traditional” that pushes the scales up a bit. Then you look at the other evidence and quickly the scales fall the other way.
If a social custom is too old, I in fact consider it a more likely candidate for being discarded today. Our ancestors had access to less evidence and experience than we do, and all too often what seemed a good idea at that time, gets in the way now. Appeal to tradition is used as a curiosity-stopper—usually when the idea can’t defend itself against progress on its own accord.
Our ancestors had access to less evidence and experience than we do, and all too often what seemed a good idea at that time, gets in the way now. Appeal to tradition is used as a curiosity-stopper—usually when the idea can’t defend itself against progress on its own accord.
I agree with this bit. But being an old tradition isn’t evidence against a custom (even if most of the customs we should discard are old traditions). There are loads of old customs we don’t question, simply because they’re obviously true (like agreeing to use language to communicate).
Well, yes. You can’t tell if something is good or bad without looking at any evidence. And if the first bit of evidence you see is “slavery is traditional” that pushes the scales up a bit. Then you look at the other evidence and quickly the scales fall the other way.
If a social custom is too old, I in fact consider it a more likely candidate for being discarded today. Our ancestors had access to less evidence and experience than we do, and all too often what seemed a good idea at that time, gets in the way now. Appeal to tradition is used as a curiosity-stopper—usually when the idea can’t defend itself against progress on its own accord.
I agree with this bit. But being an old tradition isn’t evidence against a custom (even if most of the customs we should discard are old traditions). There are loads of old customs we don’t question, simply because they’re obviously true (like agreeing to use language to communicate).