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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   26352 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 8, 2024

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Well, I suppose I see a tree something like this?

Are moral statements statements about facts? If no, you're a non-cognitivist, stop here. If yes, proceed:

Are any moral statements true? If no, you're an error theorist, stop here. If yes, proceed:

Are moral statements true absolutely, or only relative to a particular framework? If absolute, you're an absolutist or objectivist. If relative to a framework, you're a relativist.

I suppose you could frame the second one as "are any moral statements true or false?", and put error theory in terms of null rather than in terms of falsehood. To be clear, the position I'm taking is that an error theorist thinks that the statement "Murder is wrong" and the statement "Murder is right" both fail to refer to anything. Neither of them is true, because right/wrong statements cannot be true, because right and wrong are not defensible concepts.

It sounds to me like you're an error theorist who nonetheless takes a relativist approach to daily life?

Are moral statements statements about facts? If no, you're a non-cognitivist, stop here. If yes, proceed:

What kind of moral statements? If in reference to a particular class of observer, then yes. If not, no.

Are any moral statements true? If no, you're an error theorist, stop here. If yes, proceed:

Any? For those that reference a subject, and not "all" possible subjects/observers? Yes.

Are moral statements true absolutely, or only relative to a particular framework? If absolute, you're an absolutist or objectivist. If relative to a framework, you're a relativist.

Ah, you pre-empted me. Or post-empted, since you put this at the end. I'm a relativist then.

To be clear, the position I'm taking is that an error theorist thinks that the statement "Murder is wrong" and the statement "Murder is right" both fail to refer to anything. Neither of them is true, because right/wrong statements cannot be true, because right and wrong are not defensible concepts.

Murder is right/wrong, as a statement made in a vacuum? Yes, I agree it is null. If appended to a specific framework, then it may be true or false.

It sounds to me like you're an error theorist who nonetheless takes a relativist approach to daily life?

I apologize if I'm repeating myself, but to sum it up, I think the objective moral worth of any system of ethics is zero, including mine, the answer to whether there is any objective morality is thus no, but I grant subjective moral valence to specific systems, and it happens to be the case that my personal system ranks the highest (which is why I adopt it, and it has changed over time, with me either fixing inconsistencies or just lifting things I prefer from other systems of ethics).

I suppose that framing you propose seems correct, or at least I can't see anything wrong with it.

I'm too zoned out right now, for real, 30 hours of being awake and on call. I'll take a nap and get back to you later if you don't mind.

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