Imagine if the word for English and the word for language were the same word ‘language’. Do the French speak language?
This is a good way of putting it!
In fact, it just convinced me that there is an objective ethics! Sort of. Asking whether there is an objective meta-ethics is a lot like asking, “Is there such a thing as language?” Language is a concept that can be usefully applied to interactions between organisms of a particular level of intelligence given particular environmental conditions. So is ethics. Is it universal? What the hell does that mean?
But when people say there is no objective ethics, that isn’t what they mean. They aren’t denying that ethics makes sense as a concept. They’re claiming the right to set their own arbitrary goals and values.
It’s hard for me to imagine why someone who was convinced that there were no objective ethics would waste time on this, unless they were a Continental philosopher. Claiming there is no objective ethics sounds to me more like the actions of someone who believes in objective ethics, and has come to their own values that are unique enough that they must reject existing values.
This is a good way of putting it!
In fact, it just convinced me that there is an objective ethics! Sort of. Asking whether there is an objective meta-ethics is a lot like asking, “Is there such a thing as language?” Language is a concept that can be usefully applied to interactions between organisms of a particular level of intelligence given particular environmental conditions. So is ethics. Is it universal? What the hell does that mean?
But when people say there is no objective ethics, that isn’t what they mean. They aren’t denying that ethics makes sense as a concept. They’re claiming the right to set their own arbitrary goals and values.
It’s hard for me to imagine why someone who was convinced that there were no objective ethics would waste time on this, unless they were a Continental philosopher. Claiming there is no objective ethics sounds to me more like the actions of someone who believes in objective ethics, and has come to their own values that are unique enough that they must reject existing values.