Nornagest comments on Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, and Meta-Charity - Less Wrong

44 Post author: wdmacaskill 15 November 2012 08:34PM

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Comment author: Nornagest 12 December 2012 11:48:27AM -1 points [-]

Fair enough. What term would you prefer?

How about "moral architecture"?

I think I'd agree that most humans share roughly the same set of inputs to that architecture: hit most people on the head, and they're likely to feel pain; humiliate them, and they're likely to feel embarrassment. I doubt that the relative weightings of these traits are likely to remain identical between individuals, but if you factor that out I think we have a human commonality that I could get behind.

I suspect we'd differ in our opinion of acculturation's role in defining certain categories (the pain of animals, for example) as morally significant, though. That strikes me as a level or two above anything I'd be comfortable calling a human universal.

Comment author: MugaSofer 12 December 2012 12:52:42PM *  0 points [-]

Moral architecture sounds good.

I think I'd agree that most humans share roughly the same set of inputs to that architecture: hit most people on the head, and they're likely to feel pain; humiliate them, and they're likely to feel embarrassment.

I note that humans can empathise with pains they do not themselves feel.

I suspect we'd differ in our opinion of acculturation's role in defining certain categories (the pain of animals, for example) as morally significant, though. That strikes me as a level or two above anything I'd be comfortable calling a human universal.

Well, yeah. It's not the greatest example, I suppose. How about racism? That's usually my go-to for this sort of thing. I kill Jews because Jews are parasites that undermine civilization; you kill Nazis because they murder innocent people.

EDIT: I'm not actually Nazi, obviously.