“Should” and “prefer” can’t give different answers for yourself, unless you really muddle the entire issue of morality altogether.
(shrug) I find that “prefer” can give different answers for myself all on its own.
The important question is; what the hell do we mean by “morality?”
I’m not sure that is an important question, actually. Let alone the important question. What makes you think so?
morality cannot come from anywhere other than our preferences.
No argument there, ultimately. But just because my beliefs about what I should do are ultimately grounded in terms of my preferences, it still doesn’t follow that in every situation my beliefs about what I should do will be identical to my beliefs about what I prefer to do.
Given that those two things are potentially different, it’s potentially useful to have ways of talking about the difference.
By the important question, I meant the important question with regard to the problem at hand. Ultimately I’ve since decided that the whole concept of morality is a sort of Wrong Question; discourse is vastly improved by eliminating the word altogether (and not replacing with a synonym).
What is the process which determines what you should do? What mental process do you perform to decide that you should or shouldn’t do x? When I try and pinpoint it I just keep finding myself using exactly the same thoughts as when I decide what I prefer to do. When I try to reflect back to my days as a Christian, I recall checking against a set of general rules of good and bad and determine where something lies on that spectrum. Should can mean something different from want in the sense of “according to the Christian Bible, you should use any means necessary to bring others to believe in Christ even if that hurts you.” But when talking about yourself? What’s the rule set you’re comparing to? I want to default to comparing to your preferences. If you don’t do that then you need to be a lot more specific about what you mean by “should”, and indeed why the word is useful at all in that context.
The mental process I go through to determine my preferences is highly scope-sensitive.
For example, the process underlying asking “which of the choices I’ have the practical ability to implement right now do I prefer?” is very different from “which of the choices I have the intellectual ability to conceive of right now do I prefer?” is very different from “do I prefer to choose from among my current choices, or defer choosing?”
Also, the answer I give to each of those questions depends a lot on what parts of my psyche I’m most identifying with at the moment I answer.
Many of my “should” statements refer to the results of the most far-mode, ego-less version of “prefer” that I’ve cached the results of evaluating. In those cases, yes, “should” is equivalent to (one and only one version of) “prefer.” Even in those cases, though, “prefer” is not (generally) equivalent to “should,” though in those cases I am generally happiest when my various other “prefers” converge on my “should”.
There are also “should” statements I make which are really social constructs I’ve picked up uncritically. I make some effort to evaluate these as I identify them and either discard them or endorse them on other grounds, but I don’t devote nearly the effort to that that would be required to complete the task. In many of those cases, my “should” isn’t equivalent to any form of “prefer,” and I am generally happiest in those cases when I discard that “should”.
(shrug) I find that “prefer” can give different answers for myself all on its own.
I’m not sure that is an important question, actually. Let alone the important question. What makes you think so?
No argument there, ultimately. But just because my beliefs about what I should do are ultimately grounded in terms of my preferences, it still doesn’t follow that in every situation my beliefs about what I should do will be identical to my beliefs about what I prefer to do.
Given that those two things are potentially different, it’s potentially useful to have ways of talking about the difference.
By the important question, I meant the important question with regard to the problem at hand. Ultimately I’ve since decided that the whole concept of morality is a sort of Wrong Question; discourse is vastly improved by eliminating the word altogether (and not replacing with a synonym).
What is the process which determines what you should do? What mental process do you perform to decide that you should or shouldn’t do x? When I try and pinpoint it I just keep finding myself using exactly the same thoughts as when I decide what I prefer to do. When I try to reflect back to my days as a Christian, I recall checking against a set of general rules of good and bad and determine where something lies on that spectrum. Should can mean something different from want in the sense of “according to the Christian Bible, you should use any means necessary to bring others to believe in Christ even if that hurts you.” But when talking about yourself? What’s the rule set you’re comparing to? I want to default to comparing to your preferences. If you don’t do that then you need to be a lot more specific about what you mean by “should”, and indeed why the word is useful at all in that context.
The mental process I go through to determine my preferences is highly scope-sensitive.
For example, the process underlying asking “which of the choices I’ have the practical ability to implement right now do I prefer?” is very different from “which of the choices I have the intellectual ability to conceive of right now do I prefer?” is very different from “do I prefer to choose from among my current choices, or defer choosing?”
Also, the answer I give to each of those questions depends a lot on what parts of my psyche I’m most identifying with at the moment I answer.
Many of my “should” statements refer to the results of the most far-mode, ego-less version of “prefer” that I’ve cached the results of evaluating. In those cases, yes, “should” is equivalent to (one and only one version of) “prefer.” Even in those cases, though, “prefer” is not (generally) equivalent to “should,” though in those cases I am generally happiest when my various other “prefers” converge on my “should”.
There are also “should” statements I make which are really social constructs I’ve picked up uncritically. I make some effort to evaluate these as I identify them and either discard them or endorse them on other grounds, but I don’t devote nearly the effort to that that would be required to complete the task. In many of those cases, my “should” isn’t equivalent to any form of “prefer,” and I am generally happiest in those cases when I discard that “should”.