Open thread, Apr. 10 - Apr. 16, 2017

MrMind

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If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post, then it goes here.

Notes for future OT posters:

1. Please add the 'open_thread' tag.

2. Check if there is an active Open Thread before posting a new one. (Immediately before; refresh the list-of-threads page before posting.)

3. Open Threads should start on Monday, and end on Sunday.

4. Unflag the two options "Notify me of new top level comments on this article" and "Make this post available under..." before submitting.

If 100% of humanity are intuitively appalled with an idea, but some of them go ahead and do it anyway, that's just insanity.

Really? I think almost everyone has things that are intuitively appalling, but they do anyway. Walking by a scruffy, hungry-looking beggar? Drinking alcohol? there's something that your intuition and your actions disagree on.

Personally, I'm not a utilitarian because I don't think ANYTHING is the Right Thing to Do - it's all preferences and private esthetics. But really, if you are a moral realist, you shouldn't claim that other human's moral intuitions are binding, you should Do The Right Thing regardless of any disagreement or reprisals. (note: you're still allowed to not know the Right Thing, but even then you should have some justification other than "feels icky" for whatever you do choose to do).

OK, I guess I was equivocating on intuition.

But on your second paragraph: I don't think I actually disagree with you about what actually exists.

Here are some things that I'm sure you'll agree exist (or at least can exist):

preferences and esthetics (as you mentioned)
tacitly agreed on patterns of behaviour, or overt codes, that reduce conflict
game theoretic strategies that encourage others to cooperate, and commitment to them either innately or by choice

Now, the term "morality", and related terms like "right" or "wrong", ... (read more)

1g_pepper9y

But, even a moral realist should not have 100% confidence that he/she is correct with respect to what is objectively right to do. The fact that 100% of humanity is morally appalled with an action should at a minimum raise a red flag that the action may not be morally correct. Similarly, "feeling icky" about something can be a moral intuition that is in disagreement with the course of action dictated by one's reasoned moral position. it seems to me that "feeling icky" about something is a good reason for a moral realist to reexamine the line of reasoning that led him/her to believe that course of action was morally correct in the first place. It seems to me that it is folly for a moral realist to ignore his/her own moral intuitions or the moral intuitions of others. Moral realism is about believing that there are objective moral truths. But a person with 100% confidence that he/she knows what those truths are and is unwilling to reconsider them is not just a moral realist, he/she is also a fanatic.