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Dahlen comments on Taking Effective Altruism Seriously - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: Salemicus 07 June 2015 06:59AM

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Comment author: Dahlen 08 June 2015 04:52:50PM 0 points [-]

Just because you are libertarian and, understandably, freedom in general seems to you inseparable from (or sufficiently strongly correlated with) free-market capitalism does not mean that this notion is not up for debate. There are people who value freedom, who do not value laissez faire capitalism, and until there is reasonable proof that their value system is incoherent, it is and remains disingenuous to use pro-liberty to really mean pro-capitalism. And the discussion on that is its own can of worms; the concept of freedom is stupendously broad and, if you're not being very intellectually rigorous, can be used to justify any action taken by anyone ever.

Comment author: Lumifer 08 June 2015 05:23:24PM 1 point [-]

it is and remains disingenuous to use pro-liberty to really mean pro-capitalism

You are not listening: wanting the outcome of liberty (at face value) and believing that there is an empirical correlation between free markets and liberty is a reasonable and defensible position. It's not even a bit disingenuous to be pro-liberty (at face value) and to believe that pro-capitalism is the best (some people would even say "only") way to get there.

You seem strangely unwilling to accept the pro-liberty inclinations literally, at face value. The observation that things are complicated is not a good justification here.

Comment author: homunq 12 July 2015 11:08:06PM 0 points [-]

Whether something is a defensible position, and whether it should be embedded in the very terms you use when more-neutral terms are available, are separate questions.

If you say "I'm pro-liberty", and somebody else says "no you're not, and I think we could have a better discussion if you used more specific terms", you don't get to say "why won't you accept me at face value".

Comment author: Lumifer 13 July 2015 02:38:21PM 0 points [-]

you don't get to say "why won't you accept me at face value".

Oh, but I do :-)

The issue in this subthread is whether the call for liberty is a terminal goal in itself or is it a proxy for some other, hidden goal (here -- laissez-faire capitalism).

Comment author: homunq 14 July 2015 12:52:05AM 0 points [-]

I disagree. I think the issue is whether "pro-liberty" is the best descriptive term in this context. Does it point to the key difference between things it describes and things it doesn't? Does it avoid unnecessary and controversial leaps of abstraction? Are there no other terms which all discussants would recognize as valid, if not ideal? No, no, and no.

Comment author: Lumifer 14 July 2015 02:31:29PM 0 points [-]

Would you like to suggest a better term for the subject of this subthread, then?