(March 17, 2026 at 3:06 pm)Paleophyte Wrote:(March 17, 2026 at 11:45 am)Disagreeable Wrote: If moral disagreement is evidence of anti-realism then moral convergence is evidence of realism. The fact that as time goes by we have moral progress, such as less slavery than in the past, can be taken as evidence in favor of realism. The fact that people also have moral disagreements isn't really good evidence against realism. Because, again, this can be just neutralized with the opposite evidence of moral progress.
People used to think that the Earth was flat and that bad smells caused diseases. Is this evidence against science? I think not. Progress is evidence of realism.
But personally I don't think that disagreement or convergence are particularly good evidences against or for realism. People can get stuff wrong and people can get stuff right. What people think doesn't say much about what the objective fact of the matter is. Independent evidence or arguments is what really says whether something is objective or not.
You think that progress is when morality happens to match what we consider moral today? Our Victorian era ancestors thought the same thing and used orphans as a cheap source of expendable labour in the mines.
If you're saying that moral agreement isn't a sign of moral progress then, by the same logic, you can't say that moral disagreement is a sign of moral relativism. You're trying to have it both ways.
Schopenhauer Wrote:The intellect has become free, and in this state it does not even know or understand any other interest than that of truth.
Epicurus Wrote:The greatest reward of righteousness is peace of mind.
Epicurus Wrote:Don't fear god,
Don't worry about death;
What is good is easy to get,
What is terrible is easy to endure


