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cafesofie comments on The "Stick Test" - useful tool or just pointless amusement? - Less Wrong Discussion

7 Post author: DataPacRat 23 June 2011 06:31PM

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Comment author: cafesofie 23 June 2011 08:56:46PM *  3 points [-]

For example, if their argument is that it is impossible to judge another culture's activities as being 'evil', I offer up the idea that it's part of my culture to repeatedly thwap people I disagree with on the head with a stick, and thus they have no justification for telling me to stop.

Not being able to judge another culture's activities as intrinsically evil isn't the same as having to like everything everyone else does.

I don't think your "stick test" is worth anything: the person being hit can invoke desire utilitarianism as their justification and still not claim that your action is "evil".

Comment author: DataPacRat 23 June 2011 09:49:17PM -1 points [-]

the person being hit can invoke desire utilitarianism as their justification

Indeed they can - and, for the sorts of arguments I tend to use this argument for, if they do, doing so will require them to accept certain of the axioms upon which desire utilitarianism is based, which can then be used in reverse against the argument I applied the Stick Test against.

It's not really meant to be used against people who've read through the Sequences (or equivalent), but as a teaching tool for those people who don't understand some of the basics of reasoning (which is still an annoyingly high percentage of the total population).

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