RE: Does anyone own "The Moral Landscape"?
October 4, 2018 at 12:03 am
(This post was last modified: October 4, 2018 at 1:53 am by vulcanlogician.)
I think Rob is at his wits end because he thinks I'm saying something that I'm not.
Rob, you are making a bunch of excellent arguments for moral skepticism. I see exactly where you are coming from, man. And the thing is: it's not exactly clear if morality really is objective or not. If the matter was settled, there wouldn't be a branch of philosophy called metaethics.
It is rather exiting, isn't it, to be part of a debate which isn't remotely settled yet?... to know that actually one of us is wrong and the other is right. But not know which one? That's why I like to have this particular debate, btw. Intellectual gymnastics!
But I think you are getting hung up on what it means for morality to be objective or not. Well... let's ask then:
What does it mean for morality to be objective?
It means that it's like math. Math is objective. That doesn't mean "now everyone needs to be concerned with math in their lives because it's objective." Some people hate math. They may choose to live a life without using any math whatsoever. Fine. Let them. But it still remains that math is objective by its very nature. The answer to a division problem has nothing to do with someone's opinions or feelings about division. In the same way, the moral objectivist is saying that something's rightness or wrongness is purely a matter of logic and has nothing to do with personal/cultural feelings.
That's it: the moral objectivist says that morality is objective. This is to say: it has nothing to do with any cultural prejudices or personal feelings. That's it. That's the whole she-bang.
Just because morality is objective doesn't mean anyone should care about it more than they did before. Maybe you hate morality and you think it's stupid and useless. Fine. But (according to the objectivist) it's still objective, regardless of your feelings about it. You might hate math and say that the best culture in the world is the one that shuns math entirely. Fine. But math is still objective, regardless of your feelings about it.
I hope this helps.
Rob, you are making a bunch of excellent arguments for moral skepticism. I see exactly where you are coming from, man. And the thing is: it's not exactly clear if morality really is objective or not. If the matter was settled, there wouldn't be a branch of philosophy called metaethics.
It is rather exiting, isn't it, to be part of a debate which isn't remotely settled yet?... to know that actually one of us is wrong and the other is right. But not know which one? That's why I like to have this particular debate, btw. Intellectual gymnastics!
But I think you are getting hung up on what it means for morality to be objective or not. Well... let's ask then:
What does it mean for morality to be objective?
It means that it's like math. Math is objective. That doesn't mean "now everyone needs to be concerned with math in their lives because it's objective." Some people hate math. They may choose to live a life without using any math whatsoever. Fine. Let them. But it still remains that math is objective by its very nature. The answer to a division problem has nothing to do with someone's opinions or feelings about division. In the same way, the moral objectivist is saying that something's rightness or wrongness is purely a matter of logic and has nothing to do with personal/cultural feelings.
That's it: the moral objectivist says that morality is objective. This is to say: it has nothing to do with any cultural prejudices or personal feelings. That's it. That's the whole she-bang.
Just because morality is objective doesn't mean anyone should care about it more than they did before. Maybe you hate morality and you think it's stupid and useless. Fine. But (according to the objectivist) it's still objective, regardless of your feelings about it. You might hate math and say that the best culture in the world is the one that shuns math entirely. Fine. But math is still objective, regardless of your feelings about it.
I hope this helps.
