Simon Paynton

It is not an excuse but our brains are wired to make fast situational assessments. We connect dots that should not be connected. I can do better than that. people deserve better than that.

I think these things are culturally constructed.  It’s in our culture to be racist.  I feel that given our interdependence, if one group is doing badly, we’re a…[Read more]

lol

Why fairness matters more than equality

This is a very thorough exploration of the concept of fairness.  We can have charity, equality of outcome, equality of opportunity, proportionality to effort (merit), or proportionality to deservingness, all covered by the domain of distributive justice.

If what we want are fair opportunities without…

[Read more]

I’ve got a book of Fra Angelico’s religious art.  It expresses a lot of things that aren’t to do with theology.

I’m not sure what’s going on here.

Karuna wrote:

Maybe it might make your arguments more clear?

Thanks, I’m sure it will.

evolutionary approach

The point of an evolutionary approach to morality, the reason why it works, is that evolution is fundamental to the biological natural world, and morality is a natural phenomenon embedded within other natural phenomena: e.g., biology,…[Read more]

Davis wrote:

If you cannot even get someone to read a very short intro to a topic (that you offer to gift them for free)

Check your inbox, I asked you for that book days ago.  You need to check the fakery of your news.

Enjoy your evening

My bibliography runs to about 9 pages.

I think @unseen might be right if he thinks that the workings of morality are too abstract and difficult for the average person to get into.  It took me three years to understand and be able to add to Michael Tomasello’s book, A Natural History of Morality.

However, I also think that the ethical/spiritual force: the pressure to thrive, survive…[Read more]

Davis wrote:

How do you know that Simon. You are virtually illiterate in all things ethics.

Let me know when “ethics” comes up with something that ordinary people can use – something that religion has been doing for 2600 years.

Unseen wrote:

Does it mean the same as “must-ness”?

Yes.

this common structure

Cooperation.  Either within groups, or between groups.

Davis wrote:

That depends. There are multiple utilitarian systems that would not be characterized as such.

That may be so, but this is the version that is actually used by people.  It links very well with the rest of an evolutionary framework, and what’s more, represents a general formula for how to behave.

Karuna wrote:

Appeal to Nature is an argument and informal fallacy where something is believed to be good because it is natural, or bad because it is unnatural. Evolution and biology are non-moral.

I agree, but evolution and biology give rise to all kinds of things, including moral psychology.

In this current universe cooperation in humans exist…[Read more]

Davis wrote:

Deontological … utilitarian … Virtue ethics

Deontological means duties, right?

All of these come into play in human morality, and in fact in an evolutionary framework, fit together perfectly.

Utilitarianism can be reframed as “all those affected by my actions are to receive the maximum benefit and minimum harm available to…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:

a principle that is so widely held that everyone agrees it must always be followed. (I can’t think of one, but just for the sake of argument…) Does it follow ipso facto that it actually must be adhered to by all people under every circumstance?

That’s the nature of normativity or ought-ness – it exists in the minds of people.  So,…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

Hume and Kant

I’m with Hume: morality is an evolved psychological matter.  I think Kant went wrong by trying to insist it’s rational and moreover, absolute.

As an evolved psychological matter, we can investigate it from an evolutionary standpoint.  I think that modern morality rests on four or five evolved p…[Read more]

Davis wrote:

That would just be anthropological documentation of human behaviour.

I.e., human morality.  I’m not saying that the study proves universal principles, but it has found some good candidates.

It also comes down to the question, how many people have to agree with a principle to make it a principle?  Anti-social people believe they c…[Read more]

When people say “objective morality exists”, what they usually mean is “my morals are objectively true”.  So, they are confounding what is psychologically true for them, with objective truth.  I think that at heart is the problem they face.

I agree with *everyone* that “moral truth” is always going to be unproveable either way.

As for u…[Read more]