RE: 'Is & Ought' in David Hume
May 7, 2015 at 12:32 am
(This post was last modified: May 7, 2015 at 12:33 am by Whateverist.)
Well, we go from matters of fact concerning our internal states in regard to states of affairs in the world at large, to what for us are as much "ought" as we will ever experience. Hume compares morality to other sensations whose nature is determined by the way we are configured, not by any intrinsic aspect of the world.
So, when one says they have no difficulty going from an "is" to an "ought", that just means they accept their internal states as valid for determining their response. When confronted by what seems monstrously callous behavior by others, all we can do is exclaim "have we so little in common?!" Sometimes the answer is yes.
While we may have no difficulty in going from an "is" to an "ought" for ourselves, there is no common currency for issuing oughts to others. The facts of my internal states only move myself and those who feel as I do. I cannot compel another to feel as I do and so I cannot issue an ought. I can of course band with those who feel as I do to coerce those whose behavior we find monstrous to desist. We are justified by the facts of our internal states to do so. Just as they are justified by their own lights to do as they will so long as they can. That is where justice as a social convention kicks in.
So, when one says they have no difficulty going from an "is" to an "ought", that just means they accept their internal states as valid for determining their response. When confronted by what seems monstrously callous behavior by others, all we can do is exclaim "have we so little in common?!" Sometimes the answer is yes.
While we may have no difficulty in going from an "is" to an "ought" for ourselves, there is no common currency for issuing oughts to others. The facts of my internal states only move myself and those who feel as I do. I cannot compel another to feel as I do and so I cannot issue an ought. I can of course band with those who feel as I do to coerce those whose behavior we find monstrous to desist. We are justified by the facts of our internal states to do so. Just as they are justified by their own lights to do as they will so long as they can. That is where justice as a social convention kicks in.
