RE: What would be the harm?
December 3, 2018 at 2:32 pm
(This post was last modified: December 3, 2018 at 2:46 pm by bennyboy.)
(December 3, 2018 at 12:46 pm)Gae Bolga Wrote: Except that it doesn't..since oxygen has value even to creatures that do not possess any such organ or mind
No, it doesn't, any more than the flow of electricity has value to a computer. The computer doesn't give a shit if it is powered-up or not; it is OUR imposition of world view from which we derive a sense of function, and therefore of the goals of function, and therefore of the value of this or that state in serving those functional goals. We desire to type out our philosophical ideas, rather than to look at a blank screen.
(December 3, 2018 at 2:30 pm)Gae Bolga Wrote: How do we know that someone is healthy?
We define health in terms of function.
How about this-- SHOULD someone be healthy? If morality is to be based on hedonic state, does that mean I have a moral obligation to maximize my own well-being? What if I feel guilty about something, and harming myself is an attempt to fulfill justice?
And what about justice in general? Should I track down my daughter's rapist and murderer, tickle him gleefully for several minutes, and feed him cream puffs and caviar, since this will increase his sense of well-being? Or should I light the fucking world on fire in my efforts to track him down, secure him in my basement, and tear strips of skin off him for a few years, just on general principle? Cuz I gotta tell you. . . I'm pretty sure I know which path I would take.
