shminux comments on Litany of Instrumentarski - Less Wrong

1 Post author: shminux 09 April 2013 03:07PM

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Comment author: shminux 09 April 2013 06:57:03PM *  0 points [-]

I'm confused by your stance because you seem to think one's position on physical realism has no bearing on one's moral position.

Not quite. I assert that instrumentalism/physical pragmatism gives you a cleaner path to moral considerations than physical realism. The resulting positions may or may not be the same, depending on other factors (not all physical realists have the same set of morals, either). But not getting sidetracked into what exist and what doesn't and instead concentrating on accurate and inaccurate models of past, present and future inputs lets you bypass a lot of rubbish along the way. Unfortunately, it does not let you avoid being strawmanned by everyone else.

Comment author: TimS 09 April 2013 07:15:53PM *  0 points [-]

Suffice it to say that I don't agree. Having a consistent definition of exists would help immeasurably in clarifying positions on the moral realism / anti-realism debate. And you don't do a good job of noting when you are using a word in a non-standard way (and your other interlocutors are not great at noticing that your usage is non-standard).

You do realize that the standard understandings in the moral realism debate would say that referencing wrongness to a particular (non-universal) source of judgment is an anti-realist position?

Saying that right and wrong are meaningful only given a particular social context is practically the textbook definition of moral relativism, which is an anti-realist position.

Comment author: shminux 09 April 2013 08:11:16PM *  1 point [-]

Suffice it to say that I don't agree.

That's a position, not an argument.

Having a consistent definition of exists would help immeasurably in clarifying positions on the moral realism / anti-realism debate.

Boooring... I care about accurate models, not choosing between two equally untestable positions.

You do realize that the standard understandings in the moral realism debate would say that referencing wrongness to a particular (non-universal) source of judgment is an anti-realist position?

Why should I care what a particular school of untestables says?

Saying that right and wrong are meaningful only given a particular social context is practically the textbook definition of moral relativism, which is an anti-realist position.

Again, I don't care about the labels, I care about accurate beliefs.