That was good for my understanding of your position. My main problem with the whole thing though is in the use the word “bad”. I think it should be taboo at least until we establish a shared meaning.
Specifically, I think that most observers will find the first argument more logical than the second, because of a fallacy in using the word “bad”. I think that we learn that word in a way that is deeply entangled with power reward mechanism, to the point that it is mostly just a pointer to negative reward, things that we want to avoid, things that made our parents angry… In my view, the argument is than basically:
I want to avoid my suffering, and now generally person p want to avoid person p suffering. Therfore suffering is “to be avoided” in general, therefore suffering is “thing my parents will punish for”, therefore avoid creating suffering.
When written that way, it doesn’t seem more logical than is opposite.
To a kid, ‘bad things’ and ‘things my parents don’t want me to do’ overlap to a large degree. This is not true for many adults. This is probably why the step
suffering is “to be avoided” in general, therefore suffering is “thing my parents will punish for”
seems weak.
Overall, what is the intention behind your comments? Are you trying to understand my position even better, and if so, why? Are you interested in funding this kind of research; or are you looking for opportunities to change your mind; or are you trying to change my mind?
That was good for my understanding of your position. My main problem with the whole thing though is in the use the word “bad”. I think it should be taboo at least until we establish a shared meaning.
Specifically, I think that most observers will find the first argument more logical than the second, because of a fallacy in using the word “bad”. I think that we learn that word in a way that is deeply entangled with power reward mechanism, to the point that it is mostly just a pointer to negative reward, things that we want to avoid, things that made our parents angry… In my view, the argument is than basically:
I want to avoid my suffering, and now generally person p want to avoid person p suffering. Therfore suffering is “to be avoided” in general, therefore suffering is “thing my parents will punish for”, therefore avoid creating suffering.
When written that way, it doesn’t seem more logical than is opposite.
To a kid, ‘bad things’ and ‘things my parents don’t want me to do’ overlap to a large degree. This is not true for many adults. This is probably why the step
seems weak.
Overall, what is the intention behind your comments? Are you trying to understand my position even better, and if so, why? Are you interested in funding this kind of research; or are you looking for opportunities to change your mind; or are you trying to change my mind?
Since I became reasonably sure that I understand your position and reasoning—mostly changing it.