lukeprog comments on A Defense of Naive Metaethics - Less Wrong

8 Post author: Will_Sawin 09 June 2011 05:46PM

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Comment author: lukeprog 13 June 2011 04:39:21PM 1 point [-]

I'm not saying that reducing to physics/math is easy. Even ought language stipulated to refer to, say, the well-being of conscious creatures is pretty hard to reduce. We just don't have that understanding yet. But it sure seems to be pointing to things that are computed by physics. We just don't know the details.

I'm just trying to say that if I'm right about reductionism, and somebody uses ought language in a way that isn't likely to reduce to physics/math, then their ought language isn't likely to refer successfully.

We can hold off the rest of the dialogue until after another post or two; I appreciate your help so far. As a result of my dialogue with you, Sawin, and Nesov, I'm going to rewrite the is-ought part of 'Pluralistic Moral Reductionism' for clarity.