Do you have a response to the question I put to him? If it’s true that asking after values or goals or criteria always involves presupposing some higher up goals, values or criteria, then does it follow from this that we can’t ask after terminal goals, values, or ultimate criteria? If not, why not?
Yes and no. You could just decide on some definition of terminal goals or ultimate criteria, and ask the genie what we should do to achieve the goals as you define them. But it’s up to you (or someone else who you trust) to come up with that definition first, and the only “objective” criteria for what that definition should be like is something along the lines of “am I happy with this definition and its likely consequences”.
and the only “objective” criteria for what that definition should be like is something along the lines of “am I happy with this definition and its likely consequences”.
And you would say that the above doesn’t involve any antecedent criteria upon which this judgement is based, say for determining the value of this or that consequence?
I endorse the answers that TylerJay gave to this question, he’s saying basically the same thing as I was trying to get at.
Do you have a response to the question I put to him? If it’s true that asking after values or goals or criteria always involves presupposing some higher up goals, values or criteria, then does it follow from this that we can’t ask after terminal goals, values, or ultimate criteria? If not, why not?
Yes and no. You could just decide on some definition of terminal goals or ultimate criteria, and ask the genie what we should do to achieve the goals as you define them. But it’s up to you (or someone else who you trust) to come up with that definition first, and the only “objective” criteria for what that definition should be like is something along the lines of “am I happy with this definition and its likely consequences”.
And you would say that the above doesn’t involve any antecedent criteria upon which this judgement is based, say for determining the value of this or that consequence?