RE: (LONG) "I Don't Know" as a Good Answer in Ethics
November 21, 2017 at 2:04 pm
(This post was last modified: November 21, 2017 at 2:06 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
(November 21, 2017 at 1:28 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote: You have some interesting thoughts on the matter. I was letting them percolate as I was squabbling with the squirrel. So let me ask, do you see Epicurean hedonism (or hedonism in general) as an appealing theory?Not so much, no. I think it has merit, and was a good start...but it's long in the tooth at this point. Beyond the dry paradox of hedonism mentioned earlier, are you familiar with the case of the happy businessman?
He does what he does because it brings him joy. He's happy because he has a successful career, he's respected by his neighbors, and is in a loving marriage. Or, at least he thinks he is. The truth is that he's held in utter contempt by his peers and neighbors..and has been horribly deceived by his adulterous wife...who is taking him to the cleaners on the sly.
Not only is this a subtle variation of the hedonists paradox (should he keep doing what he's doing, since it makes him happy?) it's a criticism of what moral or ethical realists might call mental statism. The notion that virtue or value is determined by something wholly internal and personal. Deeply subjective and commonly in factual error.
The happy businessman's life is a good one, by the metrics of hedonism or any form of mental statism....but would you want it...?
(credit to kagan and nagel for that little gem, lol)
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