I can explain why I believe bachelors are unmarried: I learned that this is what the word bachelor means, I learned this because it is what bachelor means, and the fact that there’s a word “bachelor” that means “unmarried man” is contingent on some unimportant accidents in the evolution of language. A) it is certainly not the result of an axiomatic game and B) if moral beliefs were also contingent on accidents in the evolution of language (I think most are not), that would have profound implications for metaethics.
Motivated belief can explain non-purely-selfish beliefs. I might believe pain is bad because I am motivated to believe it, but the belief still concerns other people. This is even more true when we go about constructing higher order beliefs and trying to enforce consistency among beliefs. Undesirable moral beliefs could be a mark against this theory, but you need more than not-purely-selfish moral beliefs.
I’m going to bow out at this point because I think we’re getting stuck covering the same ground.
I can explain why I believe bachelors are unmarried: I learned that this is what the word bachelor means, I learned this because it is what bachelor means, and the fact that there’s a word “bachelor” that means “unmarried man” is contingent on some unimportant accidents in the evolution of language. A) it is certainly not the result of an axiomatic game and B) if moral beliefs were also contingent on accidents in the evolution of language (I think most are not), that would have profound implications for metaethics.
Motivated belief can explain non-purely-selfish beliefs. I might believe pain is bad because I am motivated to believe it, but the belief still concerns other people. This is even more true when we go about constructing higher order beliefs and trying to enforce consistency among beliefs. Undesirable moral beliefs could be a mark against this theory, but you need more than not-purely-selfish moral beliefs.
I’m going to bow out at this point because I think we’re getting stuck covering the same ground.