anonymous question from a big fan of yours on tumblr:
“Re: Nate Soares (thanks for doing this btw, it’s really nice of you), two questions. First, I understand his ethical system described in his recent “should” series and other posts to be basically a kind of moral relativism; is he comfortable with that label? Second, does he only intend it for a certain subset of humans with agreeable values, or does it apply to all value systems, even ones we would find objectionable?”
(I’m passing on questions without comment from anyone without an e-a.com account or who wants anonymity here. )
You could call it a kind of moral relativism if you want, though it’s not a term I would use. I tend to disagree with many self-proclaimed moral relativists: for example, I think it’s quite possible for one to be wrong about what they value, and I am not generally willing to concede that Alice thinks murder is OK just because Alice says Alice thinks murder is OK.
Another place I depart from most moral relativists I’ve met is by mixing in a healthy dose of “you don’t get to just make things up.” Analogy: we do get to make up the rules of arithmetic, but once we do, we don’t get to decide whether 7+2=9. This despite the fact that a “7″ is a human concept rather than a physical object (if you grind up the universe and pass it through the finest sieve, you will find no particle of 7). Similarly, if you grind up the universe you’ll find no particle of Justice, and value-laden concepts are human concoctions, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they bend to our will.
My stance can roughly be summarized as “there are facts about what you value, but they aren’t facts about the stars or the void, they’re facts about you.” (The devil’s in the details, of course.)
anonymous question from a big fan of yours on tumblr:
“Re: Nate Soares (thanks for doing this btw, it’s really nice of you), two questions. First, I understand his ethical system described in his recent “should” series and other posts to be basically a kind of moral relativism; is he comfortable with that label? Second, does he only intend it for a certain subset of humans with agreeable values, or does it apply to all value systems, even ones we would find objectionable?”
(I’m passing on questions without comment from anyone without an e-a.com account or who wants anonymity here. )
You could call it a kind of moral relativism if you want, though it’s not a term I would use. I tend to disagree with many self-proclaimed moral relativists: for example, I think it’s quite possible for one to be wrong about what they value, and I am not generally willing to concede that Alice thinks murder is OK just because Alice says Alice thinks murder is OK.
Another place I depart from most moral relativists I’ve met is by mixing in a healthy dose of “you don’t get to just make things up.” Analogy: we do get to make up the rules of arithmetic, but once we do, we don’t get to decide whether 7+2=9. This despite the fact that a “7″ is a human concept rather than a physical object (if you grind up the universe and pass it through the finest sieve, you will find no particle of 7). Similarly, if you grind up the universe you’ll find no particle of Justice, and value-laden concepts are human concoctions, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they bend to our will.
My stance can roughly be summarized as “there are facts about what you value, but they aren’t facts about the stars or the void, they’re facts about you.” (The devil’s in the details, of course.)
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