fmiddel - 27 June 2008 12:38 PM

I’m not sure materialism can lead to any “ought” claims.

Well, certainly it can encompass conditional ought-claims; that is, claims of the form:

If you want to get from here to Mars in the most efficient way possible, you ought to do X, Y, Z.

So that leaves the unconditional ought-claims. I certainly agree that there are forms of eliminativist materialism that do not allow them. However, I am not inclined to accept such sorts of materialism. I accept the existence of abstracta, for example; numbers, relations, universals. This allows room for abstract ought-claims as well.

dougsmith - 27 June 2008 12:45 PM

fmiddel - 27 June 2008 12:38 PM

I’m not sure materialism can lead to any “ought” claims.

Well, certainly it can encompass conditional ought-claims; that is, claims of the form:

If you want to get from here to Mars in the most efficient way possible, you ought to do X, Y, Z.

So that leaves the unconditional ought-claims. I certainly agree that there are forms of eliminativist materialism that do not allow them. However, I am not inclined to accept such sorts of materialism. I accept the existence of abstracta, for example; numbers, relations, universals. This allows room for abstract ought-claims as well.

Right.  It seems to me that the original etymology of “morality” has become more generalized to encompass ideas more similar to pragmatism and preference.

acandrad - 05 June 2008 02:59 PM

... Many religious people just love quoting a character from Dostoevsky’s “Brothers Karamazov” who says that “If God does not exist, everything is permissible”.
This statement seems irrefutable. Without God and therefore religion, what else could legitimate our laws? How would we be able to tell appart wrong from right, good from evil? A godless world seems to be condemned to chaos, anarchy, moral relativism and nihilism. It just seems so wrong! Isn’t it absurd?...

Easier to follow the Wiccan Rede:

Eight words the Rede fulfill: “An None Ye Harm, Do What Ye Will”

And the corollary: “Else ye will get thine ass kicked”.