This makes sense, but what you call “dialectical moral argumentation” seems to me like it can just be considered as what you call “logical moral argumentation” but with the “ought” premises left implicit, you know? From this point of view, you could say that they’re two different ways of framing the same argument. Basically, dialectical moral argumentation is the hypothetical syllogism to logical moral argumentation’s repeated modus ponens. Because if you want to prove C, where C is “You should take action X”, starting from A, where A is “You want to accomplish Y”, then logical moral argumentation makes the premise A explicit, and so supplied with the facts A ⇒ B and B=> C, can first make B and then make C (although obviously that’s not the only way to do it but let’s just go with this); whereas dialectical moral argumentation doesn’t actually have the premise A to hand and so instead can only apply hypothetical syllogism to get A ⇒ C, and then has to hand this to the other party who then has A and can make C with it.
So, like, this is a good way of making sense of Sam Harris, as you say, but I’m not sure this new point of view actually adds anything new. It sounds like a fairly trivial rephrasing, and to me at least seems like a less clear one, hiding some of the premises.
(Btw thank you for the comment below with the interview quotes; that really seems to demonstrate that yes, your explanation really is what Harris means, not the ridiculous thing it sounds like he’s saying!)
This makes sense, but what you call “dialectical moral argumentation” seems to me like it can just be considered as what you call “logical moral argumentation” but with the “ought” premises left implicit, you know? From this point of view, you could say that they’re two different ways of framing the same argument. Basically, dialectical moral argumentation is the hypothetical syllogism to logical moral argumentation’s repeated modus ponens. Because if you want to prove C, where C is “You should take action X”, starting from A, where A is “You want to accomplish Y”, then logical moral argumentation makes the premise A explicit, and so supplied with the facts A ⇒ B and B=> C, can first make B and then make C (although obviously that’s not the only way to do it but let’s just go with this); whereas dialectical moral argumentation doesn’t actually have the premise A to hand and so instead can only apply hypothetical syllogism to get A ⇒ C, and then has to hand this to the other party who then has A and can make C with it.
So, like, this is a good way of making sense of Sam Harris, as you say, but I’m not sure this new point of view actually adds anything new. It sounds like a fairly trivial rephrasing, and to me at least seems like a less clear one, hiding some of the premises.
(Btw thank you for the comment below with the interview quotes; that really seems to demonstrate that yes, your explanation really is what Harris means, not the ridiculous thing it sounds like he’s saying!)