Well, to me it’s obvious that “People should be allowed to do in their bedroom whatever they want as long as it doesn’t harm anyone.” was a logical proposition, either true or false. And whether it’s true or false has nothing to do with whether anyone else has the same terminal values as Sophronius. But you seem to disagree?
Well, to me it’s obvious that “People should be allowed to do in their bedroom whatever they want as long as it doesn’t harm anyone.” was a logical proposition, either true or false.
Do you mean it would be true or false for everyone? At all times? In all cultures and situations? In the same way “Sky is blue” is true?
Yes. Logical propositions are factually either true or false. It doesn’t matter who is asking. In exactly the same way that “everyone p-should put pebbles into prime heaps” doesn’t care who’s asking, or indeed how “the sky is blue” doesn’t care who’s asking.
Well then, I disagree. Since I just did a whole circle of the mulberry bush with Sophronius I’m not inclined to do another round. Instead I’ll just state my position.
I think that statements which do not describe reality but instead speak of preferences, values, and “should”s are NOT “factually either true or false”. They cannot be unconditionally true or false at all. Instead, they can be true or false conditional on the specified value system and if you specify a different value system, the true/false value may change. To rephrase it in a slightly different manner, value statements can consistent or inconsistent with some value system, and they also can be instrumentally rational or not in pursuit of some goals (and whether they are rational or not is conditional on the the particular goals).
To get specific, “People should be allowed to do in their bedroom whatever they want as long as it doesn’t harm anyone” is true within some value system and false within some other value systems. Both kinds of value systems exist. I see no basis for declaring one kind of value systems “factually right” and another kind “factually wrong”.
As a example consider a statement “The sum of the triangle’s inner angles is 180 degrees”. Is this true? In some geometries, yes, in others, no. This statement is not true unconditionally, to figure out whether it’s true in some specific case you have to specify a particular geometry. And in some real-life geometries it is true and in other real-life geometries it is false.
Well, I’m not trying to say that some values are factual and others are imaginary. But when someone makes a “should” statement (makes a moral assertion), “should” refers to a particular predicate determined by their actual value system, as your value system determines your language. Thus when people talk of “you should do X” they aren’t speaking of preferences or values, rather they are speaking of whatever it is their value system actually unfolds into.
(The fact that we all use the same word, “should” to describe what could be many different concepts is, I think, justified by the notion that we mostly share the same values, so we are in fact talking about the same thing, but that’s an empirical issue.)
As a example consider a statement “The sum of the triangle’s inner angles is 180 degrees”. Is this true?
Hopefully this will help demonstrate my position. I would say that when being fully rigorous is it a type error to ask whether a sentence is true. Logical propositions have a truth value, but sentences are just strings of symbols. To turn “The sum of the triangle’s inner angles is 180 degrees” into a logical proposition you need to know what is meant by “sum”, “triangle”, “inner angles”, “180”, “degrees” and indeed “is”.
As an example, if the sentence was uttered by Bob, and what he meant by “triangle” was a triangle in euclidean space, and by “is” he meant “is always” (universally quantified), then what he said is factually (unconditionally) true. But if he uttered the same sentence, in a language where “triangle” means a triangle in a hyperbolic space, or in a general space, then what he said would be unconditionally false. There’s no contradiction here because in each case he said a different thing.
They can. But when a person utters a sentence, they generally intend to state the derelativized proposition indicated by the sentence in their language. When I say “P”, I don’t mean ”"P" is a true sentence in all languages at all places”, I mean P(current context).
Which is why it’s useless to say “I have a different definition of ‘should’”, because the original speaker wasn’t talking about definitions, they were talking about whatever it is “should” actually refers to in their actual language.
(I actually thought of mentioning that the sky isn’t always blue in all situations, but decided not to.)
Well, perhaps you should just express your point, provided you have one? Going in circles around the word “should” doesn’t seem terribly useful.
Well, to me it’s obvious that “People should be allowed to do in their bedroom whatever they want as long as it doesn’t harm anyone.” was a logical proposition, either true or false. And whether it’s true or false has nothing to do with whether anyone else has the same terminal values as Sophronius. But you seem to disagree?
Do you mean it would be true or false for everyone? At all times? In all cultures and situations? In the same way “Sky is blue” is true?
But the sky isn’t blue for everyone at all times in all situations!
Yes. Logical propositions are factually either true or false. It doesn’t matter who is asking. In exactly the same way that “everyone p-should put pebbles into prime heaps” doesn’t care who’s asking, or indeed how “the sky is blue” doesn’t care who’s asking.
Well then, I disagree. Since I just did a whole circle of the mulberry bush with Sophronius I’m not inclined to do another round. Instead I’ll just state my position.
I think that statements which do not describe reality but instead speak of preferences, values, and “should”s are NOT “factually either true or false”. They cannot be unconditionally true or false at all. Instead, they can be true or false conditional on the specified value system and if you specify a different value system, the true/false value may change. To rephrase it in a slightly different manner, value statements can consistent or inconsistent with some value system, and they also can be instrumentally rational or not in pursuit of some goals (and whether they are rational or not is conditional on the the particular goals).
To get specific, “People should be allowed to do in their bedroom whatever they want as long as it doesn’t harm anyone” is true within some value system and false within some other value systems. Both kinds of value systems exist. I see no basis for declaring one kind of value systems “factually right” and another kind “factually wrong”.
As a example consider a statement “The sum of the triangle’s inner angles is 180 degrees”. Is this true? In some geometries, yes, in others, no. This statement is not true unconditionally, to figure out whether it’s true in some specific case you have to specify a particular geometry. And in some real-life geometries it is true and in other real-life geometries it is false.
Well, I’m not trying to say that some values are factual and others are imaginary. But when someone makes a “should” statement (makes a moral assertion), “should” refers to a particular predicate determined by their actual value system, as your value system determines your language. Thus when people talk of “you should do X” they aren’t speaking of preferences or values, rather they are speaking of whatever it is their value system actually unfolds into.
(The fact that we all use the same word, “should” to describe what could be many different concepts is, I think, justified by the notion that we mostly share the same values, so we are in fact talking about the same thing, but that’s an empirical issue.)
Hopefully this will help demonstrate my position. I would say that when being fully rigorous is it a type error to ask whether a sentence is true. Logical propositions have a truth value, but sentences are just strings of symbols. To turn “The sum of the triangle’s inner angles is 180 degrees” into a logical proposition you need to know what is meant by “sum”, “triangle”, “inner angles”, “180”, “degrees” and indeed “is”.
As an example, if the sentence was uttered by Bob, and what he meant by “triangle” was a triangle in euclidean space, and by “is” he meant “is always” (universally quantified), then what he said is factually (unconditionally) true. But if he uttered the same sentence, in a language where “triangle” means a triangle in a hyperbolic space, or in a general space, then what he said would be unconditionally false. There’s no contradiction here because in each case he said a different thing.
Value systems are themselves part of reality, as people already have values.
In this context I define reality as existing outside of people’s minds. What exists solely within minds in not real.
Yes they are, but the same sentence can state different logical propositions depending on where, when and by whom it is uttered.
They can. But when a person utters a sentence, they generally intend to state the derelativized proposition indicated by the sentence in their language. When I say “
P”, I don’t mean ”"P"is a true sentence in all languages at all places”, I meanP(current context).Which is why it’s useless to say “I have a different definition of ‘should’”, because the original speaker wasn’t talking about definitions, they were talking about whatever it is “should” actually refers to in their actual language.
(I actually thought of mentioning that the sky isn’t always blue in all situations, but decided not to.)