steven0461 comments on Pluralistic Moral Reductionism - Less Wrong
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Wikipedia defines motivational internalism as the belief that:
I want to view this as a morally necessary connection. One should do what one ought to do, and this serves as the definition of "ought".
You will note that I am using circular definitions. That is because I can't define "should" except in terms of things that have a hidden "should" in there. But I am trying to access the part of you that understands what I am saying.
The useful analogue is this:
modus ponens: "If you know 'A', and you know 'If A, then B", then you know B"
It's a circular definition getting at something which you can't put into words. I would be wrong to define "If-then" as something else, like maybe "If A, then B" means "75% of elephants with A written on them believe B" because it's already defined.
Does that make any sense?
I think you meant to leave out either the "except" or the "don't"?
Correct.