Then you need to separate the factual claim and the moral claim, and discuss them separately. The factual claim would be, “power changes goal content in this particular way”, and the moral claim is, ”...and this is bad.”
Is this fair though? Let’s say the passage had been, ”… his position that it is immoral to possess nuclear weapons”. That too breaks down into a factual and moral claim.
Moral: “it is wrong to possess a weapon with massive, unfocused destructive power”
Factual: “The devices we currently call nuclear weapons inflict massive, unfocused destruction.”
Would you object to “his position that it is immoral to posses nuclear weapons” on the grounds that “you need to separate the factual and moral claims”?
Well, in fact it would be highly helpful to separate the claims here, even though the factual part is uncontroversial, because it makes it clear what argument is being made, exactly.
And in this case it’s uncertain/controversial how much power actually changes behavior, who it changes, how reliably; and this is the key issue, whereas the moral concept that “the behavior of killing everyone who disagrees with you, is wrong” is relatively uncontroversial among us. So calling this a moral claim when the key disputed part is actually a factual claim is a bad idea.
Then you need to separate the factual claim and the moral claim, and discuss them separately. The factual claim would be, “power changes goal content in this particular way”, and the moral claim is, ”...and this is bad.”
Is this fair though? Let’s say the passage had been, ”… his position that it is immoral to possess nuclear weapons”. That too breaks down into a factual and moral claim.
Moral: “it is wrong to possess a weapon with massive, unfocused destructive power”
Factual: “The devices we currently call nuclear weapons inflict massive, unfocused destruction.”
Would you object to “his position that it is immoral to posses nuclear weapons” on the grounds that “you need to separate the factual and moral claims”?
Well, in fact it would be highly helpful to separate the claims here, even though the factual part is uncontroversial, because it makes it clear what argument is being made, exactly.
And in this case it’s uncertain/controversial how much power actually changes behavior, who it changes, how reliably; and this is the key issue, whereas the moral concept that “the behavior of killing everyone who disagrees with you, is wrong” is relatively uncontroversial among us. So calling this a moral claim when the key disputed part is actually a factual claim is a bad idea.