This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve run into inferential distances when discussing ethics on LW, and I suspect it to be the case here, perhaps in part due to differences in terminology, in part due to unstated background assumptions.
on what grounds do you think it likely that I mean that
I don’t know if you in particular mean that, but it’s a common usage I’ve noticed among people who do things that they say they shouldn’t do.
I think I rambled a little too much in my expansion, so to compress it into something more compact: “I occasionally do things I and/or people whose opinions I care about label as ‘morally bad’, and when I do these things, I think the words ‘I shouldn’t do this’. In part I’ve internalized that doing this thing is ‘bad’, but I don’t actually think it’s bad, and I still choose to do it.” To further clarify, when people say “I shouldn’t do X”, they mean that it feels like an external imposition for them, and if they could do what they wanted, they’d cast it aside and do X, and only the desire to be moral (perhaps motivated by guilt, shame, or adherence to social norms) is keeping them from doing it. There is another sense of “I shouldn’t do X”, as in “I shouldn’t put my hand on a hot stove”—there’s no external imposition there, motivation is entirely internal. Both meanings of “should” are common, and perhaps I am wrong to say that only the second, internal meaning of “should” is valid.
If one thinks that one externally-shouldn’t eat meat, they may still eat meat because they don’t think they internally-shouldn’t eat meat. I forgot (due to inferential differences) that belief that morality is external is common (a belief I do not share), and in that case it’s certainly possible to believe you’re acting unethically and still consistently want to eat meat.
This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve run into inferential distances when discussing ethics on LW, and I suspect it to be the case here, perhaps in part due to differences in terminology, in part due to unstated background assumptions.
I don’t know if you in particular mean that, but it’s a common usage I’ve noticed among people who do things that they say they shouldn’t do.
I think I rambled a little too much in my expansion, so to compress it into something more compact: “I occasionally do things I and/or people whose opinions I care about label as ‘morally bad’, and when I do these things, I think the words ‘I shouldn’t do this’. In part I’ve internalized that doing this thing is ‘bad’, but I don’t actually think it’s bad, and I still choose to do it.” To further clarify, when people say “I shouldn’t do X”, they mean that it feels like an external imposition for them, and if they could do what they wanted, they’d cast it aside and do X, and only the desire to be moral (perhaps motivated by guilt, shame, or adherence to social norms) is keeping them from doing it. There is another sense of “I shouldn’t do X”, as in “I shouldn’t put my hand on a hot stove”—there’s no external imposition there, motivation is entirely internal. Both meanings of “should” are common, and perhaps I am wrong to say that only the second, internal meaning of “should” is valid.
If one thinks that one externally-shouldn’t eat meat, they may still eat meat because they don’t think they internally-shouldn’t eat meat. I forgot (due to inferential differences) that belief that morality is external is common (a belief I do not share), and in that case it’s certainly possible to believe you’re acting unethically and still consistently want to eat meat.