From: mwaser@cox.net
Date: Wed Apr 09 2008 - 09:12:14 MDT
---- Rolf Nelson <rolf.h.d.nelson@gmail.com> wrote:
> No, I think you understand the issues, the root problem is that our
> desires are fundamentally incoherent; there is no simple solution that
> will satisfy all of our moral intuitions.
The root problem is that human beings have multiple evolved systems of ethics ranging from the evolved physical reaction most humans have when someone is killed (particularly if it is brutal and/or messy) to the societally evolved religions -- and they *frequently* conflict on anything but the simplest issues.
So -- while your statement that "there is no simple solution that will satisfy all of our moral intuitions" is undoubtedly correct, it implies something that is *radically* incorrect -- that there is no simple solution that is morally/ethically correct.
It is my contention that it is very easy to design ethics from the top down
*as long as* we are able to discard some of our incorrect moral intuitions -- like we discard our aversion to the sight of blood when performing surgery or donating blood.
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