Peaceful coexistence is not something I object to. Neither does anything oblige agents to perfectly align their values, each is free to choose. I strongly endorse people with wildly different values cooperating in areas of common interest: I’m firmly in Anton LaVey’s corner on civil liberties, for instance. It should be recognized, though, that some are clearly more wrong than others because some people get poor information and others reason poorly through akrasia or inability. Anton LaVey was not trying hard enough. I think the question is worth asking, because it is the basis of building the minimal framework of rules from each person’s judgement: How are we supposed to choose values?
It seems to me that most problems in politics and other attempts to establish cooperative frameworks stem not from confusion over terminal values but from differing priorities placed on conflicting values and most of all on flawed reasoning about the best way to structure a system to best deliver results that satisfy our common preferences.
This fact is often obscured by the tendency for political disputes to impute ‘bad’ values to opponents rather than to recognize the actual disagreement, a tactic that ironically only works because of the wide agreement over the set of core values, if not the priority ordering.
On the whole, we’re agreed, but I still don’t know how I’m supposed to choose values.
This fact is often obscured by the tendency for political disputes to impute ‘bad’ values to opponents rather than to recognize the actual disagreement, a tactic that ironically only works because of the wide agreement over the set of core values, if not the priority ordering.
I think this tactic works best when you’re dealing with a particular constituency that agrees on some creed that they hold to be objective. Usually, when you call your opponent a bad person, you’re playing to your base, not trying to grab the center.
Peaceful coexistence is not something I object to. Neither does anything oblige agents to perfectly align their values, each is free to choose. I strongly endorse people with wildly different values cooperating in areas of common interest: I’m firmly in Anton LaVey’s corner on civil liberties, for instance. It should be recognized, though, that some are clearly more wrong than others because some people get poor information and others reason poorly through akrasia or inability. Anton LaVey was not trying hard enough. I think the question is worth asking, because it is the basis of building the minimal framework of rules from each person’s judgement: How are we supposed to choose values?
It seems to me that most problems in politics and other attempts to establish cooperative frameworks stem not from confusion over terminal values but from differing priorities placed on conflicting values and most of all on flawed reasoning about the best way to structure a system to best deliver results that satisfy our common preferences.
This fact is often obscured by the tendency for political disputes to impute ‘bad’ values to opponents rather than to recognize the actual disagreement, a tactic that ironically only works because of the wide agreement over the set of core values, if not the priority ordering.
On the whole, we’re agreed, but I still don’t know how I’m supposed to choose values.
I think this tactic works best when you’re dealing with a particular constituency that agrees on some creed that they hold to be objective. Usually, when you call your opponent a bad person, you’re playing to your base, not trying to grab the center.