Vaniver comments on How to annoy misanthropes and bleeding-hearts - Less Wrong

27 Post author: PhilGoetz 07 July 2011 02:27AM

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Comment author: AlephNeil 07 July 2011 06:05:47PM *  13 points [-]

Instead, the moral character of an action’s consequences also seems to influence how non-moral aspects of the action – in this case, whether someone did something intentionally or not – are judged.

Stupid Knobe effect. Obviously the subjects' responses were an attempt to pass judgement on the CEO. In one case, he deserves no praise, but in the other he does deserve blame [or so a typical subject would presumably think]. The fact that they were forced to express their judgement of moral character through the word 'intentional', which sometimes is a 'non-moral' quality of an action, doesn't tell us anything interesting.

Comment author: Vaniver 07 July 2011 10:31:31PM 2 points [-]

doesn't tell us anything interesting.

Your explanation is obviously correct; what's interesting about it is that it exists, and that's why it's 100% relevant.