It doesn’t sound to me like you’re saying anything new here. We can make moral observations, which count as evidence regarding ethical theories. These observations will be colored by our existing views on morality, but all observations are theory-laden. When you say, “I saw your child doing something bad”, you’re not using the language wrong.
Aren’t you a professional ethicist? If I though I had something to say about ethics that you hadn’t heard before I’d probably hold out and publish it. :-) But as far as I can tell this is new-for-Less-Wrong.
As for theory-laden observation I was took Eliezer’s whole philosophy of science to involve saying: it doesn’t have to be this way! We could break from existing theory as soon as the evidence says we should instead of bending the theory again and again until it breaks.
It doesn’t sound to me like you’re saying anything new here. We can make moral observations, which count as evidence regarding ethical theories. These observations will be colored by our existing views on morality, but all observations are theory-laden. When you say, “I saw your child doing something bad”, you’re not using the language wrong.
Aren’t you a professional ethicist? If I though I had something to say about ethics that you hadn’t heard before I’d probably hold out and publish it. :-) But as far as I can tell this is new-for-Less-Wrong.
As for theory-laden observation I was took Eliezer’s whole philosophy of science to involve saying: it doesn’t have to be this way! We could break from existing theory as soon as the evidence says we should instead of bending the theory again and again until it breaks.