So what if we removed all such fable stories (in the sense that we allow our kids to believe them)? Would it be a good idea to add them back into society?
I am enough of a consequentialist to be reluctant to answer ethical questions about counterfactuals so different from reality that they destabilize my intuitions about likely consequences.
This strikes me as such a counterfactual: not only can I not imagine any way of removing such “fable stories” in the first place, I can’t imagine any way of preventing humans from creating a new set of myths.. at least, not without altering human social cognition in sufficiently major ways that the removal of fable stories became inconsequential by comparison.
I’d be convinced otherwise by a credible account of a culture that had no such stories, though.
So all I can really say is, it would be a good idea to add them back in if doing so made life better for people, and not otherwise, and I have no idea which would be the case.
I infer from the question, perhaps incorrectly, that you have a firmer ethical belief about this than I. If I’m right: is that because you have a clearer belief about the likely consequences (if so, I’m interested in your model), or because you’re a deontologist on the matter, or for some other reason?
So what if we removed all such fable stories (in the sense that we allow our kids to believe them)? Would it be a good idea to add them back into society?
I am enough of a consequentialist to be reluctant to answer ethical questions about counterfactuals so different from reality that they destabilize my intuitions about likely consequences.
This strikes me as such a counterfactual: not only can I not imagine any way of removing such “fable stories” in the first place, I can’t imagine any way of preventing humans from creating a new set of myths.. at least, not without altering human social cognition in sufficiently major ways that the removal of fable stories became inconsequential by comparison.
I’d be convinced otherwise by a credible account of a culture that had no such stories, though.
So all I can really say is, it would be a good idea to add them back in if doing so made life better for people, and not otherwise, and I have no idea which would be the case.
I infer from the question, perhaps incorrectly, that you have a firmer ethical belief about this than I. If I’m right: is that because you have a clearer belief about the likely consequences (if so, I’m interested in your model), or because you’re a deontologist on the matter, or for some other reason?
I was honestly just curious to hear you expand on the topic. I don’t have an answer that’s better than yours. Thank you.