This pretty much sums up a very large reason why I think metaethics itself is a diseased discipline. I don’t even know why this site likes to talk about “metaethics” whenever it wants to moralize, other than, perhaps, saying the prefix “meta” makes it sound more technical and “rational”, when it is really just another layer of obscurity.
I think, just like politics, this site should avoid the topic of ethics as much as possible. Most of the “science” of ethics is just post-Christian nonsense. Seriously, read Nietzsche. I don’t trust any of this talk about ethics by someone who hasn’t read, and understood, Nietzsche.
I think, just like politics, this site should avoid the topic of ethics as much as possible. Most of the “science” of ethics is just post-Christian nonsense. Seriously, read Nietzsche. I don’t trust any of this talk about ethics by someone who hasn’t read, and understood, Nietzsche.
I reject your appeal to authority or sophistication. I also suggest you are confused about what discussion of metaethics entails.
The ‘meta’ implies that the discussions of ethics can be separated entirely from normative moralizing and be engaged with as a purely epistemic challenge. This is not to say that people don’t throw their own moralizing into the conversation incessantly but that is a mix of confusion and bias on the part of the individual and not intrinsic to the subject.
It is useful to be able to describe precisely what people mean when they make ethical judgments and even what the associated words mean and how they relate to intuitions.
I’ve read Nietzsche, and I’m an ethicist of sorts, and I think Nietzsche is not a prerequisite for understanding either normative ethics or metaethics.
This pretty much sums up a very large reason why I think metaethics itself is a diseased discipline. I don’t even know why this site likes to talk about “metaethics” whenever it wants to moralize, other than, perhaps, saying the prefix “meta” makes it sound more technical and “rational”, when it is really just another layer of obscurity.
I think, just like politics, this site should avoid the topic of ethics as much as possible. Most of the “science” of ethics is just post-Christian nonsense. Seriously, read Nietzsche. I don’t trust any of this talk about ethics by someone who hasn’t read, and understood, Nietzsche.
I reject your appeal to authority or sophistication. I also suggest you are confused about what discussion of metaethics entails.
The ‘meta’ implies that the discussions of ethics can be separated entirely from normative moralizing and be engaged with as a purely epistemic challenge. This is not to say that people don’t throw their own moralizing into the conversation incessantly but that is a mix of confusion and bias on the part of the individual and not intrinsic to the subject.
It is useful to be able to describe precisely what people mean when they make ethical judgments and even what the associated words mean and how they relate to intuitions.
If the meta in metaethics meant that, I’d say it’s impossible, for roughly these reasons.
These links don’t work.
Thanks; fixed. Back to school for me on mouseover text.
I’ve read Nietzsche, and I’m an ethicist of sorts, and I think Nietzsche is not a prerequisite for understanding either normative ethics or metaethics.