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Sewing-Machine comments on A Rationalist's Account of Objectification? - Less Wrong Discussion

43 Post author: lukeprog 19 March 2011 11:10PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 20 March 2011 11:09:14AM 1 point [-]

Do you think that accurate predictions of people's behavior is most of what's required from a theory of right and wrong?

Comment author: cousin_it 20 March 2011 02:02:34PM *  7 points [-]

(Sorry for deleting my previous reply, it missed the mark.)

I wasn't trying to answer the question "why is objectification wrong", but rather "why do many people think objectification is wrong?" I think offense is a big part of the answer to the latter. See Righting a Wrong Question. This trick seems to be be especially useful with moral questions, e.g. "why is it wrong to kill" leads to making up stuff like unalienable rights, while "why do people think it's wrong to kill" leads to evolutionary psychology and other issues that at least have the potential of becoming scientific.

Comment author: TheOtherDave 20 March 2011 03:49:26PM 7 points [-]

Agreed with this as far as it goes, but I think it can go further.

A real understanding of the status issues involved does more than answer "will people be offended by objectification?" It also answers "does objectification harm people?"

This isn't a moral question. That is, whether it's wrong to harm people or not, and in what ways and under what circumstances it's wrong, is a different question.

Comment author: cousin_it 20 March 2011 05:28:09PM 2 points [-]

A real understanding of the status issues involved does more than answer "will people be offended by objectification?" It also answers "does objectification harm people?"

Yes! Thanks a lot for pointing this out, it makes the picture even more complete.