The way I think about it, when I’m suffering, this is my brain subjectively “disvaluing” (in the sense of wanting to end or change it) the state it’s currently in.
This is where I see a dualism of sorts, at least in the way it’s phrased. There is the brain disvaluing (as an evaluating subject) the state it’s in (where this state is conceived of as an evaluated object of sorts). But the way I think about it, there is just the state your mind-brain is in, and the disvaluing is part of that mind-brain state. (What else could it be?)
This may just seem semantic, but I think it’s key: the disvaluing, or sense of disvalue, is intrinsic to that state. It relates back to your statement that reality simply is, and interpretation adds something to it. To which I’d still say that interpretations, including disvaluing in particular, are integral partsof reality. They are part of the subset of reality that is our mind-brains.
This is not the same as saying that there exists a state of the world that is objectively to be disvalued.
I think it’s worth clarifying what the term “objectively” means here. Cf. my point above, I think it’s true to say that there is a state of the world that is disvalued, and hence disvaluable according to that state itself. And this is true no matter where in the universe this state is instantiated. In this sense, it is objectively (i.e. universally) disvaluable. And I don’t think things change when we introduce “other” individuals into the picture, as wediscussed in the comments on your first post in this sequence (I also defended this view at greater length in the second part of You Are Them).
I talk about notions like ‘life goals’ (which sort of consequentialist am I?), ‘integrity’ (what type of person do I want to be?), ‘cooperation/respect’ (how do I think of the relation between my life goals and other people’s life goals?), ‘reflective equilibrium’ (part of philosophical methodology), ‘valuing reflection’ (the anti-realist notion of normative uncertainty), etc.
Ah, I think we’ve talked a bit past each other here. My question about bedrock concepts was mostly about why you would question them in general (as you seem to do in the text), and what you think the alternative is. For example, it seems to me that the notions you consider foundational in your ethical perspective in particular do in turn rest on bedrock concepts that you can’t really explain more reductively, i.e. with anything but synonymous concepts (“goals” arguably being an example).
I should have chosen a more nuanced framing in my comment. Instead of saying, “Sure, we can agree about that,” the anti-realist should have said “Sure, that seems like a reasonable way to use words. I’m happy to go along with using moral terms like ‘worse’ or ‘better’ in ways where this is universally considered self-evident. But it seems to me that you think you are also saying that for every moral question, there’s a single correct answer [...]”
It seems to me your conception of moral realism conflates two separate issues:
1. Whether there is such a thing as (truly) morally significant states, and
2. Whether there is a single correct answer for every moral question.
I think these are very different questions, and an affirmative answer to the former need not imply an affirmative answer to the latter. That is, one can be a realist about 1. while being a non-realist about 2.
For example, one can plausibly maintain that a given state of suffering is intrinsically bad and ought not exist without thinking that there is a clear answer, even in principle, concerning whether it is more important to alleviate this state or some other state of similarly severe suffering. As Jamie Mayerfeld notes, even if we think states of suffering occupy a continuum of (genuine) moral importance, the location of any given state of suffering on this continuum “may not be a precise point” (Mayerfeld, 1999, p. 29). Thus, one can be a moral realist and still embrace vagueness in many ways.
I think it would be good if this distinction were more clear in this discussion, and if these different varieties of realism were acknowledged. After all, you seem quite sympathetic to some of them yourself.
This is where I see a dualism of sorts, at least in the way it’s phrased. There is the brain disvaluing (as an evaluating subject) the state it’s in (where this state is conceived of as an evaluated object of sorts). But the way I think about it, there is just the state your mind-brain is in, and the disvaluing is part of that mind-brain state. (What else could it be?)
This may just seem semantic, but I think it’s key: the disvaluing, or sense of disvalue, is intrinsic to that state. It relates back to your statement that reality simply is, and interpretation adds something to it. To which I’d still say that interpretations, including disvaluing in particular, are integral parts of reality. They are part of the subset of reality that is our mind-brains.
I think it’s worth clarifying what the term “objectively” means here. Cf. my point above, I think it’s true to say that there is a state of the world that is disvalued, and hence disvaluable according to that state itself. And this is true no matter where in the universe this state is instantiated. In this sense, it is objectively (i.e. universally) disvaluable. And I don’t think things change when we introduce “other” individuals into the picture, as we discussed in the comments on your first post in this sequence (I also defended this view at greater length in the second part of You Are Them).
Ah, I think we’ve talked a bit past each other here. My question about bedrock concepts was mostly about why you would question them in general (as you seem to do in the text), and what you think the alternative is. For example, it seems to me that the notions you consider foundational in your ethical perspective in particular do in turn rest on bedrock concepts that you can’t really explain more reductively, i.e. with anything but synonymous concepts (“goals” arguably being an example).
From one of your replies to MichaelA:
It seems to me your conception of moral realism conflates two separate issues:
1. Whether there is such a thing as (truly) morally significant states, and
2. Whether there is a single correct answer for every moral question.
I think these are very different questions, and an affirmative answer to the former need not imply an affirmative answer to the latter. That is, one can be a realist about 1. while being a non-realist about 2.
For example, one can plausibly maintain that a given state of suffering is intrinsically bad and ought not exist without thinking that there is a clear answer, even in principle, concerning whether it is more important to alleviate this state or some other state of similarly severe suffering. As Jamie Mayerfeld notes, even if we think states of suffering occupy a continuum of (genuine) moral importance, the location of any given state of suffering on this continuum “may not be a precise point” (Mayerfeld, 1999, p. 29). Thus, one can be a moral realist and still embrace vagueness in many ways.
I think it would be good if this distinction were more clear in this discussion, and if these different varieties of realism were acknowledged. After all, you seem quite sympathetic to some of them yourself.