Peter_Turney comments on Whither Moral Progress? - Less Wrong

15 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 16 July 2008 05:04AM

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Comment author: Peter_Turney 16 July 2008 01:51:37PM 0 points [-]

If we all cooperated with each other all the time, that would be moral progress. -- Tim Tyler

I agree with Tim. Morality is all about cooperation.

If everyone were to live for others all the time, life would be like a procession of ants following each other around in a circle. -- John McCarthy, via Eliezer Yudkowsky

This is a reductio ad absurdum argument against the idea that morality is an end. I agree with what it implies: Morality is a means, not an end. Cooperation is a means we each use to achieve our personal goals.