(March 8, 2017 at 6:18 pm)bennyboy Wrote: Okay. I talked before about the subjective agency which establishes a limited context in which SOME things can be said to be true: "It is true that I like chocolate better than strawberry ice cream." Opinions are not subjective truths in any sense more than that.
This is correct.
(March 8, 2017 at 6:18 pm)bennyboy Wrote: But none of this changes the fact that humans are moral animals and worms are not, and that this is because of a genetic inheritance that predates, and therefore is objective to
No, benny. That is still not what "objective" means.
(March 8, 2017 at 6:18 pm)bennyboy Wrote: But I more recently distinguished between two definitions of "morality" that I felt could put this conversation to bed.
1) A system of ideas about what represents right or wrong, and about behaviors which represent them.
2) The capacity or tendency to have a sense of right or wrong, and the motivation to act accordingly.
The former, which I think you are talking about when you talk about opinions being variably true or not true, is most usefully described in subjective terms.
Yes. That is what this entire thread about the existence of objective morality has been discussing.
No one disputes that people have moral opinions and act upon them.
(March 8, 2017 at 6:18 pm)bennyboy Wrote: The latter, which is ingrained in us at a genetic level, and which has been studied in animals not capable of forming linguistic ideas or holding "opinions," is most usefully described in objective terms.
Perhaps, depending on what it is that you wish to say about it.
It still does not establish that the claims made by moral systems are anything other than subjective.
(March 8, 2017 at 6:18 pm)bennyboy Wrote: I would still argue that the former is also more accurately described as objective, but I can also see that it is pragmatic in talking about our experience of subjective agency to see people as active agents, rather than passive observers of brain function that isn't actually under our control.
You keep trying to rope "agency" into this when it has nothing to do with the subject at hand.
Stop it. You are only confusing yourself further.
"Owl," said Rabbit shortly, "you and I have brains. The others have fluff. If there is any thinking to be done in this Forest - and when I say thinking I mean thinking - you and I must do it."
- A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
- A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner