DanielLC comments on Setting Up Metaethics - Less Wrong

13 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 28 July 2008 02:25AM

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Comment author: DanielLC 15 July 2012 06:26:09AM 1 point [-]

Can't all moral statements be rewritten as conditionals? i.e. - "You ought not to murder" -> "If you murder someone, we will punish you".

Not really. Moral statements need to tell you what to do. The example you gave only helps make predictions. I know murdering will result in my punishment, but unless I know whether being punished is good or bad, this doesn't tell me whether committing murder is good or bad.