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Lumifer comments on [Link] A Darwinian Response to Sam Harris’s Moral Landscape Challenge - Less Wrong Discussion

1 Post author: TheSurvivalMachine 20 May 2015 01:44PM

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Comment author: Lumifer 20 May 2015 03:55:06PM *  3 points [-]

You might as well look at gravitation and conclude that virtue consists of proximity to large massive objects.

But of course it does! It's not by accident that expressions "head in the clouds" or "flighty" signal disapproval, while "has his feet firmly planted on the ground" is praise :-D

Comment author: DanArmak 20 May 2015 04:00:27PM 0 points [-]

Indeed, "gravity" means serious thought or speech, as opposed to "levity". Weightiness is also good.

Comment author: Salemicus 20 May 2015 04:24:37PM 6 points [-]

Ah, but it is good to be light-hearted, light as a feather, floating on air, on cloud nine, to have a light touch, make light work or to tread lightly, whereas it is bad to be ponderous, heavy-footed, weighed down, find things heavy going, throw your weight around, make heavy weather, or to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders.

There is a great deal of linguistic tension between whether "heavy" or "light" is good, one that exists in many different languages. See also the lengthy discussion on "heavy" versus "light" at the start of The Unbearable Lightness of Being.