So, fine, live in my world and don't worry about the others. But whence that rule? That seems arbitrary
That feeling of arbitrariness is, IMHO, worth exploring more carefully.
Suppose, for example, it turns out that we don't live in a Big World... that this is all there is, and that events either happen in this world or they don't happen at all. Suppose you somehow were to receive confirmation of this. Big relief, right? Now you really can reduce the total amount of whatever in all of existence everywhere, so actions have meaning again.
But then you meet someone who says "But what about hypothetical people? No matter how many people I don't actually murder, there's still countless hypothetical people being hypothetically murdered! And, sure, you can tell me to just worry about actual people and don't worry about the other, but whence that rule? It seems arbitrary."
Would you find their position reasonable?
What would you say to them, if not?
But then you meet someone who says "But what about hypothetical people? No matter how many people I don't actually murder, there's still countless hypothetical people being hypothetically murdered! And, sure, you can tell me to just worry about actual people and don't worry about the other, but whence that rule? It seems arbitrary."
Well put. This actually does come up in a philosophical view known as modal realism. Roughly, if we can make true or false claims about possible worlds, then those worlds must be actual in order to be truth-makers. ...
From the last thread:
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