I don’t endorse the quoted statement, I think it’s just as perverse as you do. But I do think I can explain how people get there in good faith. The idea is that moral norms have no independent existence, they are arbitrary human constructions, and therefore it’s wrong to shame someone for violating a norm they didn’t explicitly agree to follow. If you call me out for falsifying data, you’re not recruiting the community to enforce its norms for the good of all. There is no community, there is no all, you’re simply carrying out an unprovoked attack against me, which I can legitimately respond to as such.
(Of course, I think this requires an illogical combination of extreme cynicism towards object-level norms with a strong belief in certain meta-norms, but proponents don’t see it that way.)
It’s an assumption of a pact among fraudsters (a fraud ring). I’ll cover for your lies if you cover for mine. It’s a kind of peace treaty.
In the context of fraud rings being pervasive, it’s valuable to allow truth and reconciliation: let the fraud that has been committed come to light (as well as the processes causing it), while having a precommitment to no punishments for people who have committed fraud. Otherwise, the incentive to continue hiding is a very strong obstacle to the exposition of truth. Additionally, the consequences of all past fraud being punished heavily would be catastrophic, so such large punishments could only make sense when selectively enforced.
I don’t endorse the quoted statement, I think it’s just as perverse as you do. But I do think I can explain how people get there in good faith. The idea is that moral norms have no independent existence, they are arbitrary human constructions, and therefore it’s wrong to shame someone for violating a norm they didn’t explicitly agree to follow. If you call me out for falsifying data, you’re not recruiting the community to enforce its norms for the good of all. There is no community, there is no all, you’re simply carrying out an unprovoked attack against me, which I can legitimately respond to as such.
(Of course, I think this requires an illogical combination of extreme cynicism towards object-level norms with a strong belief in certain meta-norms, but proponents don’t see it that way.)
It’s an assumption of a pact among fraudsters (a fraud ring). I’ll cover for your lies if you cover for mine. It’s a kind of peace treaty.
In the context of fraud rings being pervasive, it’s valuable to allow truth and reconciliation: let the fraud that has been committed come to light (as well as the processes causing it), while having a precommitment to no punishments for people who have committed fraud. Otherwise, the incentive to continue hiding is a very strong obstacle to the exposition of truth. Additionally, the consequences of all past fraud being punished heavily would be catastrophic, so such large punishments could only make sense when selectively enforced.
Right… but fraud rings need something to initially nucleate around. (As do honesty rings)