From: Patrick Crenshaw (patrick.crenshaw@gmail.com)
Date: Sun Jan 30 2005 - 15:47:51 MST
On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 08:04:25 -0800, Jef Allbright <jef@jefallbright.net> wrote:
> Phil Goetz wrote:
>
> >
> >I agree with your sentiment; but what is the purpose
> >of a moral system that one is naturally inclined to
> >obey?
> >
> >--- Thomas Buckner <tcbevolver@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
>
> <Snip>
>
> >>Ethics clearly implies relation to others;
> >>actions are ethical or not because of the effect
> >>on others.
> >>Morality is widely used in a way that implies
> >>isolation; moralists assign moral value to
> >>actions that don't affect bystanders.
> >>
> >>
> >However you attack the problem, "ethics" is a
> >concept that can only be necessary if you have
> >to specify a value system that is NOT dictated
> >by physics.
> >
> >- Phil G.
> >
> >
> >
>
> What morality is not:
> "Objective" morality is unrealistic since moral choices depend on
> values, which are necessarily subjective. "Universal" morality is
> unrealistic, because at the universal level of context, there are no
> subjective values - the universe does not care. Let's also make the
> point that there is no inherent moral good in what is natural - the
> Naturalistic Fallacy.
Actually, I don't agree that values are necessarily subjective. One
can imagine a value function which can be integrated over a volume to
give the inherent value of everything in that volume. Then add to that
value the change in value that everything in that volume causes in the
rest of the universe at t=infinity. Something like:
total_value(v, t1) = intrinsic_value(v,t1) + derived_value(v,t1)
where
derived_value(v,t1) = intrinsic_value_if_v_at_t1_exists(all space,
t=infinity) - intrinsic_value_if_v_at_t1_did_not_exist(all space,
t=infinity)
intrinsic_value(v,t1) is a physical value that can be evaluated, but
the terms in derived_value(v,t1) must be determined using inference.
These quantities are more knowable than it might seem because the
effect that a change has on the universe as a whole decays with time.
Or something.
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