My argument in this discussion is specifically related to the supposed existence of obligations. I have often given examples of "should" claims that do not involve obligations, e.g. "you should brush your teeth", that are not the target of my enquiry. — Michael
The existence or non-existence of obligations does not affect the outcome of the decisions we make. The consequences of eating meat are the same whether or not I have an obligation to not eat meat. — Michael
So why are we motivated to promote the good? Why not just be motivated to promote pleasure? If pleasure happens to be good then this is merely incidental and irrelevant to our considerations. — Michael
And when I say that I would like it if you were to make others happy I am not saying (either explicitly or implicitly) that you have an obligation to make people happy. — Michael
That's not to say that I am necessarily averse to any proposition that includes the word "should". As per an edit to my previous comment (that you may have missed):
Given these propositions:
1a. She should give me the money if I am to get rich.
2a. She should not give me the money if she is to avoid being conned.
Perhaps they are best interpreted as such:
1b. I will get rich (only?) if she gives me the money
2b. She will avoid being conned (only?) if she doesn't give me the money
These seem sensible (and true), but of course are clearly not normative. I can accept 1a) and 2a) if they are to be interpreted as 1b) and 2b). — Michael
Or: "You should give me money for this bridge." "Okay, here you go!" "You shouldn't have done that!"
Is this possible? Yes, of course. The conman either changed his mind and returned the money, or else the second 'should' was used with a different rationale (ratio). In this case there will be two judgments, one for each discrete 'should'. But 'should' simpliciter pertains to what ultimately should be done, and this is most clearly seen in what is actually wished or chosen. Conflicting options, desires, or interests are naturally adjudicated when we actually make a choice and act. — Leontiskos
As per an edit to my previous comment (that you may have missed) — Michael
So what does "should" mean in this context? It certainly doesn't seem to mean that there is an obligation to behave a certain way, — Michael
Now I say 'ought' involves a judgment about how someone should act. It involves a judgment about how someone should behave. Where such judgments are present, the reality of 'ought' is present. — Leontiskos
Your very question has introduced two different senses of "should", else it would be a contradiction to claim that she both should and shouldn't give him the money. — Michael
No. In fact he might think that she shouldn't do what he wants her to do because he knows that what he wants her to do is wrong. — Michael
The conman is trying to influence her behaviour into giving him what he wants. He isn't trying to influence her behaviour into doing what he thinks she should do. — Michael
I am only saying that the one does not necessarily entail the other. — Michael
No they do not. They want her to buy a bridge. They don't think she should. — Michael
I disagree, as I keep saying. If I'm a conman trying to sell you a bridge I don't own I am trying to influence your behaviour into giving me money but I don't believe that you have a moral obligation to give me money. — Michael
Well yes, because that's a truism: "ought" and "should" are synonyms. — Michael
Yes. — Michael
And in this case an "ought" isn't involved as I keep saying. Here are a couple of sentences:
1. I would like it if you made others happy
2. I would like it if you were to give me your money
In both cases I am trying to influence your behaviour. In neither case is the word "ought" (or the word "immoral") involved. — Michael
That I am trying to influence behaviour isn't that I believe that you have a moral obligation to behave a certain way. — Michael
No I'm not. I am expressing how I would feel if you were to behave a certain way. I'm not advising you to do something. I'm not telling you to do something. I am not asserting that there exists some objectively binding moral obligation to do something. — Michael
It directly concerns what the alcoholic ought to do despite what anyone might want, or like, the alcoholic to do. I fail to understand how this specific "ought" wouldn't be a moral - or, better yet, ethical - fact: one that thereby regards the notion of the good. — javra
↪Leontiskos I'm not sure what you want from me. You're putting words into my mouth and I'm simply explaining that I'm not saying what you accuse me of saying.
I'd like you to pass the salt. I'd like you to meet my parents. I'd like you to donate to cancer research. I'd like you to join the protest. None of this implies that I believe in some objectively binding moral obligation. — Michael
↪Michael - I don't think you read beyond the first sentence of that reply. — Leontiskos
Or, let me be more clear. You used it in the sense, "I'd like it if you pursued happiness and tried to avoid causing suffering." It could also be used in the sense, "I'd like it if you wore my favorite color on my birthday." You can imagine a parent saying both of these things to their child. But the curious thing is that "should" captures the valence of both. Still, when we are talking about morality we are talking about something like the former sense. — Leontiskos
You are advising, and the advice is moral because the precept is coextensive with all of human action. The precept bears on all of a person's actions, and not just some. It is something you believe they should take into consideration always, and not just sometimes. — Leontiskos
When I say that I'd like you to be kind to others and make them happy, that's all I'm saying. — Michael
Fundamentally, 'oughts' simply impinge on the behavior of others. Moral subjectivists can try to impinge on the behavior of others without impinging on the behavior of others, but they will contradict themselves every time. — Leontiskos
I think this gives short shrift to Mill. Mill's reference to happiness as being the objective of "the good" didn't at all suggest it was a reducible concept, but he was clear that happiness arose from a variety of factors and it was a holistic state that could not be achieved from just finding physical pleasure. I don't follow why Mill is a naturalist but Moore not. — Hanover
I haven't said "in my opinion you should stop causing suffering". I have only said "I would like it if you would stop causing suffering". These propositions mean different things. — Michael
Fundamentally, 'oughts' simply impinge on the behavior of others. Moral subjectivists can try to impinge on the behavior of others without impinging on the behavior of others, but they will contradict themselves every time. — Leontiskos
That may be true when you say it but it's not when I say it. When I say "I'd like it if you did this" I am only saying this. — Michael
You ought not eat meat if and only if I would like you to not eat meat? That seems like textbook moral subjectivism. — Michael
Is this premise true?
1. "You should do X" is true iff I'd like it if you did X
According to moral realists it's not. According to (some) moral subjectivists it is. I'm assuming moral realism, not moral subjectivism, for the sake of this argument. And you've previously argued against moral subjectivism so I presume you believe that the premise is false. — Michael
I don't say that we should. I only say that I do, and that I'd like it if you did too. — Michael
I promote happiness because I enjoy it and because I have empathy for others. Moral considerations do not factor into my decision making at all. — Michael
I'm trying to explain that it doesn't matter if it is immoral to cause suffering. — Michael
Then "this is immoral" means "one ought not do this".
I don't care if I ought or ought not promote happiness or if I ought or ought not cause suffering. I'm going to promote happiness and avoid causing pain either way. — Michael
There's an ambiguity in your proposition that "he could argue that pleasure is good". Are you saying that "this is good" means "this is pleasurable" or are you saying that pleasure happens to have the property of goodness? The former is naturalism, the latter is non-naturalism. — Michael
I think it important not to get too caught up in the particular labels used. If you prefer, rather than use the labels "naturalism" and "non-naturalism" we can use the labels "Type X" and "Type Y". — Michael
Given that I believe that it is immoral to cause suffering, what follows if suffering is immoral and what follows if suffering is not immoral?
If "this is immoral" means "this causes suffering" then part of my question would contain a logical contradiction: my belief that it is immoral to cause suffering would be true by definition, and so we cannot even ask what would follow if that belief was false. — Michael
But if "this is immoral" doesn't mean "this causes suffering" then there is no such contradiction and so the question is coherent. — Michael
Now given the assumption that "this is immoral" doesn't mean "this causes suffering", what does it mean to say that it is immoral to cause suffering? — Michael
On some accounts we cannot define the proposition "it is immoral" in any simpler terms. However, given that such claims are intended to be normative, I am assuming that "this is immoral" just means "one ought not do this". At the very least this definition allows us to avoid having to explain why we ought not be immoral.
This then entails that the proposition "it is immoral to cause suffering" means "one ought not cause suffering" (and the proposition "it is moral to seek pleasure" means "one ought seek pleasure"). — Michael
Given that I believe that one ought not cause suffering, what follows if it is a fact that one ought not cause suffering and what follows if it is not a fact that one ought not cause suffering?
The problem I see is that nothing follows in either case. The existence or non-existence of such obligations is inconsequential. It is true that if one ought not cause suffering and I cause suffering then I have done something I ought not, but so what? What is my motivation to obey obligations? — Michael
This quote doesn't make much sense except there having been a context where Augustine was under the impression that there were an embarrassing number of Christians who aren't such critical thinkers. — wonderer1
That is disanalogous. — Bob Ross
But the non-naturalist isn't a moral skeptic. He's a moral realist. — Hanover
And no one is an essentialist anymore. It's like so yesterday. — Hanover
I don't follow why Mill is a naturalist but Moore not. — Hanover
I'll quote Moore's Principia Ethica — Michael
It is in defining goodness in terms of some natural property – in this case, pleasure – that makes it an ethical naturalist theory. And then, according to Moore, deriving the normative claim that we ought pursue pleasure commits the naturalistic fallacy. — Michael
He describes "the good" as having a variety of objectives, and so it is pluralistic, unlike saying the good = that which increases the most pleasure, which would posit a monistic, essentialist definition of "the good. " — Hanover
That would make my degree in Philosophy all the more impressive. — Michael
Hedonism is an example of ethical naturalism. — Michael
I'm not saying that the natural sciences study the normative value of pain and pleasure. I'm saying that pain and pleasure are natural properties. — Michael
Moore, as explained in that quote in my previous comment, and also from his open-question argument: — Michael
Thirdly, Moore held good to be an independent property that stood on its own, like the property yellow or red, and that was identifiable as such. But this could not be the case. A comparison between good and yellow showed that good was always dependent on other properties by reference to which it had to be understood. For instance, it is clearly legitimate to say that x and y are exactly alike save that x is yellow and y is not. It is not legitimate to say that x and y are exactly alike save that x is good and y is not. If x really is good while y is not, this can only be because x and y differ in some other respect. If x is a strawberry it will be good, say, because it is red and juicy, and y will be bad because it is not. — Peter L. P. Simpson, On the Naturalistic Fallacy and St. Thomas, p. 4