(May 6, 2015 at 4:04 pm)ChadWooters Wrote:(May 6, 2015 at 12:35 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: One could try to maximize one's potential as a mass murderer, or as a child rapist, or any other thing…Typically, what one adds to that sort of claim is some question-begging goal, and pretend that it is somehow objective for what one's "potential" is.It takes time and repeated exposure to understand the terms and concepts of the Neo-Scholastic tradition. So even though I took great pains to elaborate I don’t fault your misunderstanding. To accurately form concepts, people must distinguish between essential attributes and accidental ones. So while it is true that humans have the potential to be rapists, it is an accidental property the same way that having been born in France or having the skill to hang-glide are accidental. None of those facts are relevant to what it means to be human.
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It is exactly as I have represented it. You make up bullshit that you call "essential," and then tell people that they should live in accordance with what you make up. It is pretend objectivity, and nothing more.
There is no reason to believe in "essences" (in the sense you are using the term). It is a word-game, where one plays with how a word is used, and then one pretends that the language use determines how things are in the world. Or in this case, one pretends how things should be in the world.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
