XiXiDu comments on What is Metaethics? - Less Wrong
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But these two desires are not inconsistent, because for someone to die by, say, natural causes, is not the same thing as for him to die by your own hand.
You could say the same thing about socks. E.g., "I just don't see why one would talk about socks here. Socks are simply complex arrangements of molecules. Why invoke "sock" in this context?"
What are you going to do instead of invoking "sock"? Are you going to describe the socks molecule by molecule as a way of avoiding using the word "sock"? That would be cumbersome, to say the least. Nor would it be any more true. Socks are real. They aren't imaginary. That they're made out of molecules does not stop them from being real.
All this can be said about morality. What are you going to do instead of invoking "morality"? Are you going to describe people's reactions as a way of avoiding using the word "morality"? That would be cumbersome, to say the least. Nor would it be any more true. Morality is real. It isn't imaginary. That it's made out of people's reactions doesn't stop it from being real.
Denying the reality of morality simply because it is made out of people's reactions, is like denying the reality of socks simply because they're made out of molecules.
I am going to use moral terminology in the appropriate cultural context. But why would one use it on a site that supposedly tries to dissolve problems using reductionism as a general heuristic? I am also using the term "free will" because people model their decisions according to that vague and ultimately futile concept. But if possible (if I am not too lazy) I avoid using any of those bogus memes.
Of course, it is real. Cthulhu is also real, it is a fictional cosmic entity. But if someone acts according to their fear of Cthulhu I am not going to resolve their fear by talking about it in terms of the Lovecraft Mythos but in terms of mental illness.
How so? Can you give an example where the use of terminology derived from moral philosophy is useful instead of obfuscating?