Thanks for your remarks.
The is-ought distinction wasn’t discussed explicitly to help include those unfamiliar with Hume. However, the opening section of the essay attempts to establish morality as just another domain of the physical world. There are no moral qualities over and above the ones we can measure, either a) in the consequences of an act, or b) in the behavioural profiles or personality traits in people that reliably lead to certain acts. Both these things are physical (or, at least, material in the latter case), and therefore measurable. Science studies physical reality, and the ambit of morality is a subset of physical reality. Therefore, science studies morality too.
The essay is silent on ‘hedonistic’ utilitarianism (we do not endorse it, either), as again, a) we think these aren’t useful terms with which to structure the debate with as wide an audience as possible, and b) because they are concerns outside the present scope. This essay focuses on establishing the moral domain as just a subset of the physical, and therefore, that there will be moral facts to be obtained scientifically—even if we don’t know how to obtain them just yet. How to perfectly balance competing interests, for example, is for a later discussion. First, convincing people that you actually can do that with any semblance of objectivity is required. The baby needs to walk before it can run.
We discuss cross-cultural claims in the section on everyday empiricism.
Hi David,
I really don’t think I can reply without rewriting the essay again. I feel like I’ve addressed those concerns already (or at least attempted to do so) in the body of the essay, and you’ve found them unsatisfactory, so we’d just be talking passed each other.
Your replies are much appreciated though.