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buybuydandavis comments on Two arguments for not thinking about ethics (too much) - Less Wrong Discussion

29 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 27 March 2014 02:15PM

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Comment author: buybuydandavis 28 March 2014 02:24:15AM *  3 points [-]

I stopped entirely asking the question of what I should do, and began to focus entirely on what I want to do

The utilitarian comes to Stirner's egoism at last! Welcome, brother! All hail Saint Max!

When one starts fussing over "what shoulds should I have?", one has gone tail biting insane.

Some of your wants are moral wants. They're not that much more mysterious than your "yummy wants". Morality is another set of preferences you have. Once they're no longer "rational truths" for you to calculate, but some of the many preferences you have, you can get down to satisfying them just as you satisfy your yummy preferences.

I think rationalist moral tail biting leads to akrasia because calculating isn't how one satisfies or even experiences moral preferences. It larges displaces focus on your moral preferences. The proof of the pudding lies in tasting, not in some rationalist calculation on how good it is going to taste.