Simon Paynton

Unseen wrote:
Yeah, but didn’t anyone tell him that the number of voters who didn’t want him to touch Roe v. Wade was twice as big as those who did?

That’s why, in his calculated, transactional, Machiavellian way, he’s been dialling back his support for anti-abortion issues.

I think Trump’s appeal is that he tells potential supporting demographics exactly what they want to hear, and promises them power.  This way he corrupts everyone who gives him the time of day.  The evangelicals, the entire Republican party.  He didn’t care about abortion, until he realised the anti-abortionists would vote for him if they be…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
You’re a relativist. Moral values are relative and not permanent over time.

I guess.  But I don’t think “anything goes”, based on my own values, and I can see that’s not the case for other people too.

Unseen wrote:
And here I thought you were an absolutist who believe right and wrong are real. Turns out you’re a total relativist and have been all along.

There is a multiplicity of values that have some kind of factual status.  The Spartans had their values; we have ours and I have mine.  They don’t always agree with each other.

Unseen wrote:
And what “mutual benefit” derives from abandoning one’s baby…that benefits the baby? If one (or a social entity) gets to choose who benefits from actions and who doesn’t, that sure looks relativistic to me.

It doesn’t benefit the baby.  In the case of the African women, it is a form of abortion.  In the Spartans, they didn’t valu…[Read more]

I think morality has the same factual status as do the correct ways to fix a bicycle.  The problems are recurrent, the bike is real, the actions are real.  What factual status do the correct fixing methods have?

Unseen wrote:
The values available for an ancient Spartan to choose from would be far different from those available to a Quaker pacifist.

That’s true, not many people would countenance throwing a baby off a cliff.  However, according to Sarah Bleffer Hrdy in “Mothers and Others”, there are a surprising number of women living in the bush in…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
They are also not built into the fabric of reality so that they were true, like 1+1=2, even before the Big Bang and after the last atom falls apart.

The thing is, they are somewhat built into the fabric of reality, given the requirements that humans have to live in the way they do (collaboratively).  The multiplicity of values…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
By saying “one way,” out the window goes any pretense of absolutism or universality or objectivity.

Sorry to burst your bubble – but I’m not sure what you’re after.  It’s factually correct that people in need, need help.  It’s always been the same the world over.

Unseen wrote:
Yeah, well “human well being” is something that societies define for themselves through mutual agreement and acceptance, and what that will be (we’re back to this) will vary from time to time and place to place.

Morality is less about human well being, than about the process itself, of achieving it; and one way is through helpi…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
As soon as you mentioned “ideal,” you revealed that you were not actually talking about facts

Yes, but an “ideal state” is a factual state, that has certain factual qualities (ideal qualities).

Moral realism is not simple and does not get defined.  I think morality has a number of factual aspects, as far as it refers to fact…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
How do you define moral relativism? If morals are not relative, then they are absolute which means factual.

Yes – what exactly is moral relativism?  Is it the moral philosophy that nothing is better than anything else?  I don’t believe anyone lives like that.  Everyone has values by which to evaluate their own behaviour and ot…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
Yeah, like people who own parrots. Abnormal.

True – “abnormal” is not necessarily the exact opposite of “normal”.

Unseen wrote:
You treat “normal” as if normality is a fact and not a judgment or standard.

“Normal” can mean, neutrally, “most of the time” or “usually”.  In that sense, paedophiles are a small minority and therefore abnormal.

_Robert_ wrote:
Of course, mental illness can change your personality.

It can make someone do unusual things, but the way they do them will be in keeping with their personality.

Paedophilia is an illness because it’s so maladaptive for all concerned.  It’s pathological: it causes harm over the long term.

I’m sure that paedos flock to the…[Read more]

_Robert_ wrote:
Nah. It’s often considered more violent act of someone who is mentally ill than a normal act of sexual preference.

Mental illness doesn’t change someone’s basic personality: it couldn’t turn someone into a paedo.  It’s an act of sexual preference, but not a “normal” one.

If there are tons of deep fake kiddie porn pictures out th…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
Donna Summer’s biggest hit was probably I Feel Love, which had an early electronic music background supplied by Giorgio Moroder.

It was recently voted “top electronic single” in a poll, I can’t remember the magazine that ran it.

I really like this version of Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t nobody” by Jasmine Thompson.