PeteJ wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:46 pm
Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2020 4:55 am
What are the justifications for your 'ought'?
It' would have to be a long answer, and really I would rather argue that there is no such thing as an 'ought'. But insofar as there is one it must be derived from the nature of Reality or iow from an 'is'. So the argument would go...
The nature of Reality is such that it is in our own best interest to behave in a certain way, and if we wish to pursue our own best interest then this is how we 'ought' to behave,
But I'd rather replace 'ought' here with, 'how it would be most sensible to behave', or perhaps, 'how it would be most effective to behave given our goal'.
For this approach the nature of Reality must be such that it has ramifications for human behaviour, thus it only works for certain descriptions of Reality.
Your above is merely an issue of semantics.
I can agree 'ought' in the widest sense can be 'how it would be most sensible to behave', or perhaps, 'how it would be most effective to behave given our goal'.
This is merely replacing one word with a phrase or statement.
However within the moral and ethics perspective the term 'ought' is something very critical which can have serious consequences on matter of killing, murder, mass murder, rapes, violence, etc.
In this case the moral ought would be ''
how it would be most effective to behave given our goal of doing good and not committing evil acts'.
Imagine if we are to use the intended point ''
how it would be most effective to behave given our goal of doing good and not committing evil acts" 200 or 300 times in an article with reference to morality and ethics.
As a matter of communication, it would be more effective to use one word "ought" instead of the above phrase or statement, as long as we understand what the word represent.