This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I think something like utilitarianism seems to do a better job of being an all-encompassing theory of moral action.
Do you think in practice, it might be easier to rationalize?
A straight-up moral prohibition of adultery leads to less adultery than "well, do whatever maximizes pleasure," I would think, even if the latter should come to the same conclusion once you consider second-order effects. It's just too easy to do motivated reasoning.
Edit: I could have sworn I came across something at some point about the skulls quote. But while looking a little, I came across these comments from @DaseindustriesLtd.
So I am honestly making the maybe-crazy prediction that no, the average utilitarian will actually commit less adultery than the average person who follows a religion that says 'though shalt not commit adultery' or the average person with some type of deontology/virtue ethics which strongly says 'cheating is bad'. I'm not insanely confident about this or anything, could easily be wrong, but I'd bet $50 on it (if I were talking to someone at a bar I mean, I'm not going to go to the hassle of setting up an anonymous online exchange for that amount).
Now, caveats.
First, what do we mean by 'adultery', I do think that utilitarians are more likely to negotiate open relationships/polyamory, which I don't consider adulterous. I really mean cheating, in the sense of violating explicit or very obviously implied agreements about the nature of the relationship. If utilitarians have an advantage of more permissive relationships, I consider that a fairly won victory.
Second, 'average person'. I'm counting everyone who would say that they are Christian (or other religions with similar prohibitions) regardless of how devout or observant they are. I'm counting everyone who would say 'yeah adultery/cheating is obviously bad/wrong/evil' but doesn't give an explicitly utilitarian accounting of why that is. I do think this means that the average person in that group will be less interested in moral quandries and less thoughtful about moral issues and less concerned with matching their morals to their actions than the average utilitarian. I again consider that a fairly won victory, because utilitarianism involves learning to make those judgements for yourself instead of relying on handed-down maxims or simplistic rules, so I think that higher level of average observance is part of its strength. But you could argue that it's popular among academic weirdos who are a better starting stock, and therefore not a fair comparison group, if you wanted to.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link