RE: “Normative” ethical theories
September 29, 2025 at 7:24 pm
(This post was last modified: September 29, 2025 at 7:27 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
I didn't intend to get you to realism with that observation....or, really, any of it in thread - always worth remembering. My personal commitment to realism is internal and (I hope) not coercive - coercivity is a no go for me - like, even if you have some x right it's better™ that some other agent reach that (hypothetical) realization on their own. It will be more lasting..and importantly to the current focus of our convo..more compelling. Now, I've not done an exhaustive field trial designed for high quality scientific evidence..there..just anecdotal. I was pointing out that you can get to communicative normativity from any metaethical basis. We tell our kids, for example, that they should clean their rooms. Maybe, if asked, we explain that in terms of the consequences of uncleanliness in superspreader events and structure damage and parental stress and monetary loss. Maybe we say because I said so. Maybe we point out that if dcf saw this shit we'd both be in trouble....or maybe we just say because yuck. That's (purported) objectivity, subjectivity, relativity, and non cognitive....and they all contain in their mere utterance a motivational implication. So..to the statement, "moral naturalism holds that".....yeah, sure, and so does every other moral adjective.
Necessary in the logical or metaethical sense that any and every moral utterance contains it, yes. Necessary in the practical or descriptive sense that any and every moral agent will be compelled and equivalently compelled by knowledge of that hypothetical fact..whether that knowledge..that fact... is objective, subjective, relative, or in-fact not knowledge and non-cognitive? No. The truth of a statement from any basis and the actual state of a given agents motivational apparatus and circumstance are not interchangeable. Have you ever been confidently wrong? It's like that.
To the second question....any way we can...concewptually. I have a list of ways I won't personally entertain..basically carving out space for being or doing right the wrong way - but there's a dissenting viewpoint that we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good (or good-enough-for....I suppose....still trying to communicate in a neutral way).
Necessary in the logical or metaethical sense that any and every moral utterance contains it, yes. Necessary in the practical or descriptive sense that any and every moral agent will be compelled and equivalently compelled by knowledge of that hypothetical fact..whether that knowledge..that fact... is objective, subjective, relative, or in-fact not knowledge and non-cognitive? No. The truth of a statement from any basis and the actual state of a given agents motivational apparatus and circumstance are not interchangeable. Have you ever been confidently wrong? It's like that.
To the second question....any way we can...concewptually. I have a list of ways I won't personally entertain..basically carving out space for being or doing right the wrong way - but there's a dissenting viewpoint that we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good (or good-enough-for....I suppose....still trying to communicate in a neutral way).
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