RE: Moral rules vs moral sense
June 13, 2012 at 10:10 am
(This post was last modified: June 13, 2012 at 10:10 am by Tempus.)
(June 13, 2012 at 8:56 am)whateverist Wrote: How essential is it really to spell out ahead of time what is good and what is not for the sake of conducting our own affairs? I've never been tempted to do this. When it is so easy to recognize what is good and what isn't, why codify? From my point of view it just seems obsessive.
I disagree that it's easy to recognise good. By carefully examining one's moral philosophy inconsistencies can be spotted and addressed. Some people have an intuitive feeling that homosexuality is wrong. By doing philosophy you can examine this sentiment and determine what assumptions it's rest upon, whether it's consistent with other beliefs, and ultimately whether it's justified (actually, these things might be more to do with epistemology, but it informs moral philosophy anyway). The pay off of such introspection, in my opinion, is enormous. And while you can do this without formal training or any research... both save you a shit load of time - there's no use reinventing the wheel. Additionally, you'll often encounter things you'd have not considered otherwise.
(June 13, 2012 at 8:56 am)whateverist Wrote: The situation is analogous to the correct use of English. It is possible to be an expert speaker without any formal training, provided you have developed an ear for it in the company of people who are themselves competent speakers. Acquiring a formal knowledge of the rules of grammar has value. It just isn't necessary for correct usage. Likewise it is possible to act consistently with an intuitively held moral sense without attempting to exhaustively specify the 'rules'.
Funny, I've just spent today researching proper use of English grammar. Again, if you are consciously learning and have access to other resources (and use them), and if you understand why you use one word and not another you're going to be a better English speaker for it. Same with philosophy. Personally, I want to know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I want to understand the world and the people in it. I want to know how I could be wrong and how I could be happy. For this, I need philosophy.
I feel like I didn't answer your question. I understood it, but I couldn't keep myself on track...
Bah, beaten by everyone!
