RE: Human Value Nonexistent?
October 31, 2012 at 1:02 pm
(This post was last modified: October 31, 2012 at 1:05 pm by Edwardo Piet.)
(October 31, 2012 at 12:42 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: Exactly, they believe it's praiseworthy. As I said, belief in praise is foundational. But is it justified? Saying we believe it's praiseworthy makes it's praiseworthy is circular reasoning though.
If I merely said that praiseworthiness is worthy if it is deserved then that would be tautologically redundant. But I didn't just say that, I said that it's also based upon people believing that they and others are responsible.
Is it justified? What, logically justified? Intrinsic values can't be, no. Whether something is "good" or "bad" and what ought to be or should be is about the connotations alone if it is intrinsic. Things can only, logically, be extrinsically good or bad. Something can be good for or bad for something else. Extrinsic value can be logically justified, but not intrinsic value - because you can't go from facts to values, you can't go from "what is" to "what ought to be", how could you when there is no connection between their meaning? It can't be demonstrated by logic.
You'd need scientific evidence of an intrinsic value that actually exists, that's the only way it could be rationally justified, you can't prove it by logic. You can't logically break the is-ought distinction.