What could make morality objective?

Should you think about your duty, or about the consequences of your actions? Or should you concentrate on becoming a good person?

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Iwannaplato
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Iwannaplato »

Agent Smith wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 7:35 am What could make dharma objective?

Perhaps we could begin if dharma isn't objective ...
If Karma is involved, then it could be quasi-objective. It would be as if the universe rewards certain moral attitudes (at least) and punishes others. This doesn't make it necessarily objective morally. But it would make it pragmatically objective. IOW if I keep finding myself reincarnated into victims every times I treat people like shit, well, it might has well be objectively bad to keep being an asshole.

Of course, there's no way to demonstrate that the universe is actually calibraing goodness correctly. But there you are in this context and objectively it's in your self-interest, in the hypothetical scenario, to be more compassionate.

I wouldn't see much practical harm in thinking of being an asshole, in such a universe, as objectively bad. It needn't be correct, but the downside of thinking it, were that the situation, seems rather nonexistant to me.
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Agent Smith
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Agent Smith »

Iwannaplato wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 7:56 am
Agent Smith wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 7:35 am What could make dharma objective?

Perhaps we could begin if dharma isn't objective ...
If Karma is involved, then it could be quasi-objective. It would be as if the universe rewards certain moral attitudes (at least) and punishes others. This doesn't make it necessarily objective morally. But it would make it pragmatically objective. IOW if I keep finding myself reincarnated into victims every times I treat people like shit, well, it might has well be objectively bad to keep being an asshole.

Of course, there's no way to demonstrate that the universe is actually calibraing goodness correctly. But there you are in this context and objectively it's in your self-interest, in the hypothetical scenario, to be more compassionate.

I wouldn't see much practical harm in thinking of being an asshole, in such a universe, as objectively bad. It needn't be correct, but the downside of thinking it, were that the situation, seems rather nonexistant to me.
Good points!
Peter Holmes
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Peter Holmes »

Here are two things VA has just written.
Veritas Aequitas wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 4:57 am
I have never asserted the following...
"There are no facts outside the ways we know about and describe them."

There is no absolute atom-in-itself nor fact-in-itself, thus whatever is reality is conditioned upon human conditions.
So, VA does not claim that there are no facts outside the ways we know about and describe them. And that seems to mean that VA thinks that there are facts outside the ways we know and describe them. For example, VA seems to agree that there are (and would be) mirror neurons in brains, even if neuroscience didn't exist.

But VA then introduces the expressions 'absolute atom-in-itself' and 'absolute fact-in-itself', in order to deny their existence. The modifier 'absolute' seems to me redundant, because it hints at some other kind of thing-in-itself - perhaps a relative or contingent thing-in-itself - which is surely a contradiction in terms.

So here's VA's contradiction:

1 There are facts outside the ways we know and describe them.
2 There are no facts-in-themselves; 'whatever is reality is conditioned upon human conditions.'

First, notice the extremism of 2: whatever is reality is conditioned upon human conditions.' This goes beyond saying (correctly) that we have to perceive, know and describe reality in a human way. It tips over into a completely unfounded claim that reality can be nothing different from what we perceive, know and describe it to be. Can there be a clearer example of mistaking what we know and say for the way things are?

And the irony of this (arguably) misconstrued Kantianism is that, if there's no reality-in-itself, it makes no sense to say what reality can or can't be. If there are no noumena, there are also no phenomena.

Second, VA's mumbled mantra - 'conditioned upon human conditions' - remains, as ever, completely undefined and unexplained. Its anthropocentrism is unquestioned. Its mystical dualism is unjustified - like all mysticism. And its logical self-demolition has to be ignored.
Veritas Aequitas
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Veritas Aequitas »

Peter Holmes wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 9:34 am Here are two things VA has just written.
Veritas Aequitas wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 4:57 am
I have never asserted the following...
"There are no facts outside the ways we know about and describe them."

There is no absolute atom-in-itself nor fact-in-itself, thus whatever is reality is conditioned upon human conditions.
So, VA does not claim that there are no facts outside the ways we know about and describe them. And that seems to mean that VA thinks that there are facts outside the ways we know and describe them. For example, VA seems to agree that there are (and would be) mirror neurons in brains, even if neuroscience didn't exist.

But VA then introduces the expressions 'absolute atom-in-itself' and 'absolute fact-in-itself', in order to deny their existence. The modifier 'absolute' seems to me redundant, because it hints at some other kind of thing-in-itself - perhaps a relative or contingent thing-in-itself - which is surely a contradiction in terms.

So here's VA's contradiction:

1 There are facts outside the ways we know and describe them.
2 There are no facts-in-themselves; 'whatever is reality is conditioned upon human conditions.'

First, notice the extremism of 2: whatever is reality is conditioned upon human conditions.' This goes beyond saying (correctly) that we have to perceive, know and describe reality in a human way. It tips over into a completely unfounded claim that reality can be nothing different from what we perceive, know and describe it to be. Can there be a clearer example of mistaking what we know and say for the way things are?

And the irony of this (arguably) misconstrued Kantianism is that, if there's no reality-in-itself, it makes no sense to say what reality can or can't be. If there are no noumena, there are also no phenomena.

Second, VA's mumbled mantra - 'conditioned upon human conditions' - remains, as ever, completely undefined and unexplained. It's anthropocentrism is unquestioned. Its mystical dualism is unjustified - like all mysticism. And its logical self-demolition has to be ignored.
Strawman again.

You deliberately ignored the full context of my questioning of your premise 2 which is;
As I had stated what is a FSK-Conditioned Fact comprise of the following phases;

1. The realization of the fact via a specific FSK that entangles with the human condition.
2. The realized FSK-conditioned-Fact is known
3. The realized then known fact is described in various ways.
viewtopic.php?p=625906#p625906
You ignored and is ignorant of the processes of realization and emergence of the fact [1] that precede the knowing [2] and describing [3].

Thus, mirror neurons emerge and exist upon realization and conditioned upon the neuroscience-FSK, it is only thereafter that it is known and described.

I wrote above in another post:
There is no absolute atom-in-itself nor fact-in-itself, thus whatever is reality is conditioned upon human conditions.
Note it [what is fact] is NOT confined to what is known or described but the whole complex process of the realization of that reality where the human conditions are entangled therein.

Your strawman is you think I claimed facts emerged from what is known and described from a FSK, e.g. a neuroscience FSK.

But you ignored and is ignorant of the processes of realization and emergence of the fact that precede the knowing and describing.

I have explained in detail in this thread;
Objective Moral Facts are Enacted FSK-Facts
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=39630

Your above strawman is rubbish.
Read this new thread before you counter my claim.
And the irony of this (arguably) misconstrued Kantianism is that, if there's no reality-in-itself, it makes no sense to say what reality can or can't be. If there are no noumena, there are also no phenomena.
It is obvious you have not understood [not necessary agree with] Kant's point of phenomena vs noumena.
Kant wrote:The Concept of a Noumenon is thus a merely limiting Concept, the Function of which is to curb the pretensions of Sensibility; and it is therefore only of negative employment.
At the same time it [Noumenon] is no arbitrary invention; it is Bound up with the Limitation of Sensibility, though it [Noumenon] cannot affirm anything Positive beyond the Field of Sensibility.
B311
According to Kant we can prove the Phenomena exist as real via a FSK e.g. science, but not the supposed noumenon [thing in itself - a mere intelligible object of thought] which is illusory as a limit and can only be taken in the negative sense, i.e. not real or be taken only as an assumption.

You are taking [reifying] the noumenon [a mere intelligible object] as something real [i.e. your what is fact] and existing objectively out there when the noumenon [a mere intelligible object in thought only ] is merely an illusion.

Try proving I am wrong in interpreting Kant from his CRP? There is no way you can do it!
Second, VA's mumbled mantra - 'conditioned upon human conditions' - remains, as ever, completely undefined and unexplained. It's anthropocentrism is unquestioned. Its mystical dualism is unjustified - like all mysticism. And its logical self-demolition has to be ignored.
This 'conditioned upon human conditions' grounds the QM thesis that won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics.
WHO ARE YOU to question their award of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics. If you are so sure of your claim, then challenge the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics award committee to claim the Nobel Prize for yourself.

Note this thread which you do not dare to counter?
The Moon Does Not Exist If No Humans 'Look' at It
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=39510
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Sculptor
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Sculptor »

Veritas Aequitas wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 4:39 am
Sculptor wrote: Fri Feb 24, 2023 12:13 pm
Veritas Aequitas wrote: Fri Feb 24, 2023 7:48 am
Show me an atom that exists in-itself independent of the science-chemistry FSK and therefrom human conditions.
Do you accept the theory of evolution?
DO you accept that there is a time before the emergence of science?

Your answer to these should answer your question, if you have the wit to understand.

Hint: all the atoms in your hand which you are using to type bullshit, except the Strontium90 in your bones existed before humanity.
I believe you missed the essence of my point.
Why avoid the questions?
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Sculptor
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Sculptor »

Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 6:42 am
Sculptor wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 12:23 am I feel sorry for you.
I don't really give a shit about your feelings.
Sculptor wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 12:23 am Why do you bother posting at all?
Because you and your philosopher friends keep posting bullshit.
But you posting hyperbullshit does not stop us.
We are only posting to laugh at you! :D
tillingborn
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by tillingborn »

Skepdick wrote: Fri Feb 24, 2023 1:37 pmAtoms don't exist except as theoretical constructs.
Haven't you heard? Everything other than your immediate perceptions is a theoretical construct.
Skepdick
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Skepdick »

tillingborn wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:35 pm
Skepdick wrote: Fri Feb 24, 2023 1:37 pmAtoms don't exist except as theoretical constructs.
Haven't you heard? Everything other than your immediate perceptions is a theoretical construct.
Haven't you heard? "perception" is a theoretical construct.

Some say they "perceive".
Others say they "experience".
Others say they are aware.
Others say they are conscious.

Some say that perception is "immediate".
Others say it isn't.

Theories everywhere!

It sure feels like we need a theory of theorising to get to the bottom of it all.
Skepdick
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Skepdick »

Sculptor wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 11:20 am But you posting hyperbullshit does not stop us.
We are only posting to laugh at you! :D
"We" who? You and all the voices in your head?

It seems pretty embarrasing that of all the voices in there you are the one to speak. Isn't there a lesser idiot of a voice?
tillingborn
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by tillingborn »

Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:52 pmHaven't you heard? "perception" is a theoretical construct.
No it isn't.
Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:52 pmSome say they "perceive".
Others say they "experience".
Others say they are aware.
Others say they are conscious.
They are a theoretical construct.
Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:52 pmSome say that perception is "immediate".
Others say it isn't.
Others are wrong.
Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:52 pmTheories everywhere!

It sure feels like we need a theory of theorising to get to the bottom of it all.
Indeed. All we will ever know is perceptions and theories about them.
Skepdick
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Skepdick »

tillingborn wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:03 pm
Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:52 pmHaven't you heard? "perception" is a theoretical construct.
No it isn't.
The experience, awareness and consciousness crowds each say the exact same thing about all others!

tillingborn wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:03 pm Others are wrong.
The experience, awareness and consciousness crowds each say the exact same thing about all others!

Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:52 pmTheories everywhere!

tillingborn wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:03 pm Indeed. All we will ever know is X and theories about them.
Replace X with one of experience, awareness or consciousness and...

The respective crowds say the exact same thing about their own theory.

So if "they" are wrong, then you are wrong too. Because all symbolism is the same.
tillingborn
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by tillingborn »

Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:07 pm
tillingborn wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:03 pm
Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:52 pmHaven't you heard? "perception" is a theoretical construct.
No it isn't.
The experience, awareness and consciousness crowds each say the exact same thing about all others!
Does the word synonym mean anything to you?
Skepdick
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Skepdick »

tillingborn wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:13 pm Does the word synonym mean anything to you?
Sure. Does the phrase "Perennial philosophy" mean anything to you?

Because if...
tillingborn wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:03 pm Others are wrong.
and your philosophies are "synonymous", then let me fix it for you...
tillingborn wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:03 pm O̶t̶h̶e̶r̶s̶ We are wrong.
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Sculptor
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Sculptor »

tillingborn wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:13 pm
Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:07 pm
tillingborn wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:03 pm No it isn't.
The experience, awareness and consciousness crowds each say the exact same thing about all others!
Does the word synonym mean anything to you?
Funny isn't he?
:D
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Sculptor
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Re: What could make morality objective?

Post by Sculptor »

tillingborn wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 3:03 pm
Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:52 pmHaven't you heard? "perception" is a theoretical construct.
No it isn't.
Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:52 pmSome say they "perceive".
Others say they "experience".
Others say they are aware.
Others say they are conscious.
They are a theoretical construct.
Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:52 pmSome say that perception is "immediate".
Others say it isn't.
Others are wrong.
Skepdick wrote: Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:52 pmTheories everywhere!

It sure feels like we need a theory of theorising to get to the bottom of it all.
Indeed. All we will ever know is perceptions and theories about them.
Sometimes I think he is actually trying to tell jokes, but then I know he thinks he is serious. :D
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