Philosophy meme
Philosophy meme
Not sure why this got removed from 196lemmy..blahaj.zone but it would be real nice if moderation on Lemmy gave you some sort of notification of what you did wrong. Like an automatic DM or something
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This all rests on the assumptions that avoiding suffering is objectively the ideal, and I disagree on that.
I'd like to see less suffering, but I don't confuse my own values with objective values.
It's not subjective, though. Morality is an objective reality, that can, in theory, be compared between any two options and there would always be an objective answer which of the options are better or worse or the same. You just think there is no objective reason to follow those options which are morally better, but that's a different question.
Morality is an objective reality, that can, in theory, be compared between any two options and there would always be an objective answer which of the options are better or worse or the same.
Whatever standard you used to compare two moral systems would itself be based on the values of the judge.
Even asking "which leads to less suffering" is a subjective value, placing suffering as the most important aspect.
You just think there is no objective reason to follow those options which are morally better, but that's a different question.
Just the opposite. I believe people have their own reasons for following one system over the other.
One system can be more useful to a society, and they will have cause to maintain that ethical system.
I think you confuse cultural norms and rules with the abstract concept of ethics. When you question whether or not something is objectively morally better or worse than something else, that's independent of different current norms and values.
It's the same as maths. If you have two black boxes one with three and one with fifteen potatoes in them, the box with the fifteen potatoes in it will objectively have more potatoes. It doesn't matter if you can look into the boxes, like potatoes or if some people consider "less is more" or if they do not have a concept of mathematics. If you ask whether or not 15 potatoes are more than 3 this will always be an objective truth since numbers are defined by math and that a bigger number is bigger than a smaller number is an axiom of mathematics.
If the black boxes would instead contain "suffering" it doesn't matter what makes the suffering grow bigger or smaller. Someone who likes pain or for whom pain leads to greater outcome down the road will put less suffering into the box. It will still be an objective amount. Independent of whether or not you can measure it.
Rooting ethics in the idea that suffering must be avoided is not an agreed upon moral goal. Many cultures do not see the world this way.
A Buddhist would agree with you, a protestant might not.
Some view progress, wealth, understanding, or some other abstract goal as more important.
You can objectively say one decision leads to more suffering, but you can say objectively that's what matters the most.
Likewise with the potatoes, you can objectively say that one weighs more, but not that having more potatoes is the most important thing.