Immigration would be much better if we approached the issue of “How much do immigrants cost us vs how much do we benefit from them” and made laws in light of this, instead of approaching it from the moral difference between “This is our home and we shouldn’t let strangers in” or “Freedom means allowing anyone to join us”.
I think you’re implicitly making an moral statement (putting aside whether its “correct”). Your focus on “costs to us and how much do we benefit” means we downplay or eliminate any consideration of the moral question. However, ignoring the moral question has the same effect as losing the moral argument to “this is our home and we shouldn’t let strangers in”—in both cases the moral argument for “joining us” is treated as irrelevant. I’m not making an argument, just an observation i think is relevant if considering the issue.
I don’t see why this treats the moral argument for joining us as any less relevant than the moral argument for not joining us. And yes, this does downplay or eliminate consideration of the moral question, which is what I was going for. Or to put it another way, the moral statement I’m trying to make is that the moral value of absolutist moral considerations is less than utilitarian concerns in regards to costs/benefits. I don’t actually care about moral arguments for or against immigration that aren’t consequentalist.
Look, there is no doubt an equivalency in your method in that “they should join us” is put on the backburner along with “we should penalize them.” I’m simply highlighting this point.
Or to put it another way, the moral statement I’m trying to make is that the moral value of absolutist moral considerations is less than utilitarian concerns in regards to costs/benefits. I don’t actually care about moral arguments for or against immigration that aren’t consequentalist.
In limiting the “consequentialist” argument to the “home country’s” benefits and costs, you’ve by default given credence to the idea that “they should be penalized” in that you’re willing to avoid penalizing them if they add value to your country—another way of looking at it is to say those that want the immigrants to “join us” aren’t benefited in any way by saying that the opposite moral argument was ignored. You’ve softened your statement now by using “moral value....is less,” but you’re actually going further than that—you’re saying that the utilitarian concerns on cost/benefits are SO GREAT relative to the moral issues that the moral issues should be ignored completely (or that’s how your solution plays out). This is a bold statement, irrespective of its merits. How else would you interpret your statement?:
Immigration would be much better if we approached the issue of “How much do immigrants cost us vs how much do we benefit from them” and made laws in light of this, instead of approaching it from the moral difference between “This is our home and we shouldn’t let strangers in” or “Freedom means allowing anyone to join us”.
Your point only works if you completely ignore the moral argument. Once it matters even a little, the luxuries offered by cost/benefit analysis are thrown out the window because you now have a subjective consideration to incorporate that makes choices difficult. Again, just highlighting the consequences of your argument, don’t really have an opinion on your particular argument.
Part of the problem with politics is we just say things and don’t think about what they mean, since our focus is more on being right and presuming the potential certainty rather than understanding the sources and consequences of various political arguments and appreciating the inherent uncertainty that is unavoidable with any governance regime (or so I would argue).
What point are you trying to make? I’m really not sure. Completely ignoring the “Moral argument” seems obviously the correct thing to do, so I have to assume I’m misinterpreting what you mean by the moral argument.
nope, i’m just asking why you think that the moral argument should be ignored, and why that position is obvious. we’re talking about a group of humans and what laws and regulations will apply to their lives, likely radically changing them. these decisions will affect their relatives, who may or may not be in similar positions themselves. when legislating about persons, it seems there is always some relevance as to how the laws will affect those people’s lives, even if broader considerations (value to us/cost to us as a country) are also relevant.
to be clear, i’m NOT saying you’re wrong. I’m asking you why you think you’re right, particularly since its so obvious.
EDIT: i totally appreciate i jumped in mid-conversation and asked a question which is now a chain and that might come off as odd to you, so sorry -- you asked about my point -- fair question, I’m not sure I really have one other than understanding your point of view. perhaps silly, but thought you made an interesting point and wanted to see how you thought through the issue before you made it. a “non-expert” can’t tell anyone they’re wrong, can only try to learn why others think they are right :).
So from my point of view the moral argument is as I stated it earlier: We either should or should not allow immigrants because of moral laws. This argument is stupid because it is not based on consequences or information.
Your point seems to be that the consequentialist point of view should take into account the impact on immigrants, which is different than what I meant by the moral argument. I’m pretty sure I agree with yours. A country is made up out of people. The costs/benefits to those people are a subset of the costs/benefits to a country, and should be factored into same.
interesting, so you are dividing morality into impact on immigrants and the idea that they should be allowed to join us a a moral right, with the former included in your analysis and the latter not.
putting aside positions, from a practical perspective it seems that drawing that line will remain difficult because “impact to immigrants” likely informs the very moral arguments I think you’re trying to avoid. Or in other words, putting that issue (effect on immigrants) within the costs/benefits analysis requires some of the same subjective considerations that plague the moral argument (both in terms of difficulty in resolving with certainty and the idea of avoiding morality).
Regardless, seems like the horse has been dead for hours (my fault!). Thanks for engaging with me.
Immigration would be much better if we approached the issue of “How much do immigrants cost us vs how much do we benefit from them” and made laws in light of this, instead of approaching it from the moral difference between “This is our home and we shouldn’t let strangers in” or “Freedom means allowing anyone to join us”.
I think you’re implicitly making an moral statement (putting aside whether its “correct”). Your focus on “costs to us and how much do we benefit” means we downplay or eliminate any consideration of the moral question. However, ignoring the moral question has the same effect as losing the moral argument to “this is our home and we shouldn’t let strangers in”—in both cases the moral argument for “joining us” is treated as irrelevant. I’m not making an argument, just an observation i think is relevant if considering the issue.
I don’t see why this treats the moral argument for joining us as any less relevant than the moral argument for not joining us. And yes, this does downplay or eliminate consideration of the moral question, which is what I was going for. Or to put it another way, the moral statement I’m trying to make is that the moral value of absolutist moral considerations is less than utilitarian concerns in regards to costs/benefits. I don’t actually care about moral arguments for or against immigration that aren’t consequentalist.
Look, there is no doubt an equivalency in your method in that “they should join us” is put on the backburner along with “we should penalize them.” I’m simply highlighting this point.
In limiting the “consequentialist” argument to the “home country’s” benefits and costs, you’ve by default given credence to the idea that “they should be penalized” in that you’re willing to avoid penalizing them if they add value to your country—another way of looking at it is to say those that want the immigrants to “join us” aren’t benefited in any way by saying that the opposite moral argument was ignored. You’ve softened your statement now by using “moral value....is less,” but you’re actually going further than that—you’re saying that the utilitarian concerns on cost/benefits are SO GREAT relative to the moral issues that the moral issues should be ignored completely (or that’s how your solution plays out). This is a bold statement, irrespective of its merits. How else would you interpret your statement?:
Your point only works if you completely ignore the moral argument. Once it matters even a little, the luxuries offered by cost/benefit analysis are thrown out the window because you now have a subjective consideration to incorporate that makes choices difficult. Again, just highlighting the consequences of your argument, don’t really have an opinion on your particular argument.
Part of the problem with politics is we just say things and don’t think about what they mean, since our focus is more on being right and presuming the potential certainty rather than understanding the sources and consequences of various political arguments and appreciating the inherent uncertainty that is unavoidable with any governance regime (or so I would argue).
What point are you trying to make? I’m really not sure. Completely ignoring the “Moral argument” seems obviously the correct thing to do, so I have to assume I’m misinterpreting what you mean by the moral argument.
nope, i’m just asking why you think that the moral argument should be ignored, and why that position is obvious. we’re talking about a group of humans and what laws and regulations will apply to their lives, likely radically changing them. these decisions will affect their relatives, who may or may not be in similar positions themselves. when legislating about persons, it seems there is always some relevance as to how the laws will affect those people’s lives, even if broader considerations (value to us/cost to us as a country) are also relevant.
to be clear, i’m NOT saying you’re wrong. I’m asking you why you think you’re right, particularly since its so obvious.
EDIT: i totally appreciate i jumped in mid-conversation and asked a question which is now a chain and that might come off as odd to you, so sorry -- you asked about my point -- fair question, I’m not sure I really have one other than understanding your point of view. perhaps silly, but thought you made an interesting point and wanted to see how you thought through the issue before you made it. a “non-expert” can’t tell anyone they’re wrong, can only try to learn why others think they are right :).
So from my point of view the moral argument is as I stated it earlier: We either should or should not allow immigrants because of moral laws. This argument is stupid because it is not based on consequences or information.
Your point seems to be that the consequentialist point of view should take into account the impact on immigrants, which is different than what I meant by the moral argument. I’m pretty sure I agree with yours. A country is made up out of people. The costs/benefits to those people are a subset of the costs/benefits to a country, and should be factored into same.
interesting, so you are dividing morality into impact on immigrants and the idea that they should be allowed to join us a a moral right, with the former included in your analysis and the latter not.
putting aside positions, from a practical perspective it seems that drawing that line will remain difficult because “impact to immigrants” likely informs the very moral arguments I think you’re trying to avoid. Or in other words, putting that issue (effect on immigrants) within the costs/benefits analysis requires some of the same subjective considerations that plague the moral argument (both in terms of difficulty in resolving with certainty and the idea of avoiding morality).
Regardless, seems like the horse has been dead for hours (my fault!). Thanks for engaging with me.