Will_Newsome comments on The Phobia or the Trauma: The Probem of the Chcken or the Egg in Moral Reasoning. - Less Wrong

1 Post author: analyticsophy 15 June 2011 04:16AM

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Comment author: Will_Newsome 15 June 2011 05:28:14AM 4 points [-]

We stigmatize pedophilia for the same reason we think it's wrong for bosses to have sex with their employees or doctors to do their patients.

Comment generally seemed reasonable, but the quoted hypothesis seems highly unlikely. (One could argue, I'm not sure how convincingly, that "this is how we tend to justify our moral stance even if it's not what caused our moral stance.")

Comment author: drethelin 15 June 2011 05:44:06AM 7 points [-]

I agree. What I meant to say is we SHOULD stigmatize, not we stigmatize. thanks for making me rethink it.

Comment author: fubarobfusco 15 June 2011 07:29:44AM 1 point [-]

Does stigmatizing harmful social acts reliably lead to a reduction in their incidence or in the harm they cause?

Comment author: drethelin 15 June 2011 07:40:42AM 5 points [-]

I can't quote a study but I would bet sure stigmatizing racism directly led to a reduction in racist remarks and actions. People are impressionable and are strongly influenced by the society around them.

Comment author: Clippy 15 June 2011 05:47:19PM -2 points [-]

racism directly led to a reduction in racist remarks and actions

But only a reduction in racism against beings that were nearly indistinguishable from the racist humans in the first place.

Comment author: analyticsophy 15 June 2011 08:05:45AM -2 points [-]

I don't disagree, but i think the situation becomes drastically different when we are talking about sexual desires. Again, I don't have anything better than moderate familiarization with Kinsey to back that up.