Jiro comments on What Would You Do Without Morality? - Less Wrong
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Comments (171)
It's vague in an additional way: you interpreted it to mean "what would you do if you were convinced that your moral beliefs were wrong". But I think Eliezer was asking "what would you do if your moral beliefs actually were wrong and you were aware of that."
That has its own problem. It's like asking "if someone could prove that creationism was true and evolution isn't, would you agree that scientists are closed-minded in rejecting it?" A hypothetical world in which creationism was true wouldn't be exactly like our own except that it contains a piece of paper with a proof of creationism written down on it. In a world where creationism really was true, scientists would either have figured it out, or would have not figured it out but would be a lot more clueless than actual-world scientists. Likewise, a world where moral beliefs were all wrong would be very unlike our world, if indeed it's a coherent concept at all--it would not be a world that is exactly like this one with the exception that I am now in possession of a proof.
Very true. I didn't get that from reading the article at first, but now I'm getting that vibe. I guess the more charitable reading is 'what would you do if you were convinced that your moral beliefs were wrong' or one of my variations, because you rightly point out that 'what would you do if your moral beliefs actually were wrong and you were aware of that' is an exceedingly presumptuous question.
For my own part, I don't have a problem with that question either, though how I answer it depends a lot on whether (and to what extent) I think we're engaged in idea-exploration vs. tribal boundary-defending. If the former, my answer is "sure" and I wait to see what follows. If the latter, I challenge the question (not unlike your answer) or otherwise push back on the boundary violation.