But we're not talking about narrow minded conservative religious types; they, almost by definition, hate the idea of cultural relativism (because their culture is the only one that's right). We're talking about people who have moved past that.
The thread opened by talking about people who go to a Harry Potter fan club. The person who wrote the thread mentioned in the past that the fan club holds things like astrology lessons.
I would think that the audience is people in the vague New Age spectrum which like pop spirituality and do have some sort of belief in God.
Overestimating, because most people don't discuss with their friends the virtues of cultural relativism on a regular basis. And underestimating, because the people that do generally are more thoughtful, philosophical types, who tend to hold their beliefs for actual reason.
Being thoughtful just means that you are better at rationalizing your belief. It doesn't make you escape the trap of holding beliefs for signaling social status. Read a bit Robert Hanson.
And people who are cultural relativists tend, almost by definition, to be willing to listen to other points of view; they're more likely to hear you out, if you appeal to them on a rational level and don't treat them like idiots (which is sounds like you're doing right now).
Do you feel like I'm treating you as an idiot? If so, that's not intended. Cultural relativists are not the target audience of posts I write on LessWrong.
I would think that the audience is people in the vague New Age spectrum which like pop spirituality and do have some sort of belief in God.
That is probably true.
Being thoughtful just means that you are better at rationalizing your belief. It doesn't make you escape the trap of holding beliefs for signaling social status.
If a person is thoughtful and feels the need to rationalize their belief, then they are usually someone who can be reached through reason and rational arguments. If nothing else, they'll probably have to improve their own ratio...
I'm afraid I haven't properly designed the Muggles Studies course I introduced at my local Harry Potter fan club. Last Sunday we finally had our second class (after wasted months of insistence and delays), and I introduced some very basic descriptions of common biases, while of course emphasizing the need to detect them in ourselves before trying to detect them in other people. At some point, which I didn't completely notice, the discussion changed from an explanation of the attribution bias into a series of multicultural examples in favor of moral relativity. I honestly don't know how that happened, but as more and more attendants voiced their comments, I started to fear someone would irreversibly damage the lessons I was trying to teach. They basically stopped short of calling the scientific method a cultural construct, at which point I'm sure I would have snapped. I don't know what to make of this. Some part of me tries to encourage me and make me put more effort into showing these people the need for more reductionism in their worldview, but another part of me just wants to give them up as hopeless postmodernists. What should I do?