Constant, if moral truths were mathematical truths, then ethics would be a branch of mathematics. There would be axiomatic formalizations of morality that do not fall apart when we try to explore their logical consequences. There would be mathematicians proving theorems about morality. We don’t see any of this.
If Tegmark is correct, then everything is mathematics. Do you dispute Tegmark’s claim that “there is only mathematics; that is all that exists”? Do you think your argument is any good against Tegmark’s hypothesis? Will you tell Tegmark, “the department of physics and the department of biology are separate departments from the department of mathematics, and therefore you are wrong”? I don’t think it is quite so easy to dismiss Tegmark’s hypothesis merely on the basis that all the sciences are not treated as branches of mathematics. Tegmark’s point is that something that we don’t realize is mathematics nevertheless is mathematics. All your observation shows is that we don’t treat it as mathematics. Which doesn’t even touch Tegmark’s hypothesis.
Isn’t it simpler to suppose that morality was a hypothesis people used to explain their moral perceptions (such as “murder seems wrong”) before we knew the real explanations, but now we find it hard to give up the word due to a kind of memetic inertia?
Moral truths pass some basic criteria of reality. They are, importantly, not a matter of opinion. If, as some claim, morality is intuitive game theory (which I think is very much on track), then morality is not a matter of opinion, because whether something is or is not a good strategy is not a matter of opinion. Optimal strategies are what they are regardless of what we think, and therefore pass an important criterion of reality.
Now, there seem to be some who think that discovering that morality is intuitive game theory debunks its reality. But to my mind that is a bit like discovering what fire is debunks the idea that fire is real. It does not: discovering what it is does not debunk it, if anything it reaffirms its reality. If fire is a kind of exothermic chemical reaction then it is most definitely not just in my imagination! And if morality is intuitive game theory then it is most definitely not just in my imagination.
And game theory happens to be… guess what… Starts with an “m”.
Constant, if moral truths were mathematical truths, then ethics would be a branch of mathematics. There would be axiomatic formalizations of morality that do not fall apart when we try to explore their logical consequences. There would be mathematicians proving theorems about morality. We don’t see any of this.
If Tegmark is correct, then everything is mathematics. Do you dispute Tegmark’s claim that “there is only mathematics; that is all that exists”? Do you think your argument is any good against Tegmark’s hypothesis? Will you tell Tegmark, “the department of physics and the department of biology are separate departments from the department of mathematics, and therefore you are wrong”? I don’t think it is quite so easy to dismiss Tegmark’s hypothesis merely on the basis that all the sciences are not treated as branches of mathematics. Tegmark’s point is that something that we don’t realize is mathematics nevertheless is mathematics. All your observation shows is that we don’t treat it as mathematics. Which doesn’t even touch Tegmark’s hypothesis.
Isn’t it simpler to suppose that morality was a hypothesis people used to explain their moral perceptions (such as “murder seems wrong”) before we knew the real explanations, but now we find it hard to give up the word due to a kind of memetic inertia?
Moral truths pass some basic criteria of reality. They are, importantly, not a matter of opinion. If, as some claim, morality is intuitive game theory (which I think is very much on track), then morality is not a matter of opinion, because whether something is or is not a good strategy is not a matter of opinion. Optimal strategies are what they are regardless of what we think, and therefore pass an important criterion of reality.
Now, there seem to be some who think that discovering that morality is intuitive game theory debunks its reality. But to my mind that is a bit like discovering what fire is debunks the idea that fire is real. It does not: discovering what it is does not debunk it, if anything it reaffirms its reality. If fire is a kind of exothermic chemical reaction then it is most definitely not just in my imagination! And if morality is intuitive game theory then it is most definitely not just in my imagination.
And game theory happens to be… guess what… Starts with an “m”.