this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
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[–] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 36 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Is it actually? As far as I'm aware, it doesn't really make any statements that anything is moral or immoral, nor is it a framework that could be used to determine such things by itself, more so a statement on the validity of such things. Or in other word, is it really a moral thesis, or is it a thesis about moral thesis?

[–] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

You could argue that moral relativism is a metaethical thesis and so is not straight away self-defeating. Even so, moral relativists often go on to claim that we shouldn't judge the moral acts of other cultures based on what we take to be universal moral standards. Because, get this, it would be wrong to do so.

[–] BleatingZombie@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm not smart enough to understand anything in this conversation, but "Metaethical" seems like it would be a good metal band name

Followed by Postmetaethical when they lose a member

[–] neptune@dmv.social 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

This sounds like Goedels theorem. How could a philosophy be consistent and have an opinion about every moral topic?

[–] Anamnesis@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm not sure morality would have the same problems with recursion that math has.

[–] neptune@dmv.social 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm not sure it's the SAME but if there were a system of created ethics that were able to speak to everything and do so consistently.... Wouldn't we know?

[–] Anamnesis@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Why would we? Ethics can be just as opaque as any other subject. It took us thousands of years to get economics, psychology, etc. to where they are.

[–] HappyRedditRefugee@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

Yooo. You are onto something here.

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago

Is it that it's wrong or simply that it lacks proper context? Like if you're going to judge a culture you should learn the culture that seems obvious even without the arguments about morality

[–] Anamnesis@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

You're on the right track here. It's a metaethical claim, not a moral one.

[–] Zo0@feddit.de 10 points 2 years ago

Yeah I don't understand the point the meme is trying to make

[–] dingus@lemmy.ml 31 points 2 years ago (2 children)

This just in: Literally everything in life is made up as we go along.

[–] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Except table manners. Those are dictated by the Universe itself!

[–] shootwhatsmyname@lemm.ee 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)
  1. All tables must be proper and well-behaved.
[–] The_Eminent_Bon@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What do you do with rude tables?

[–] pinkwerdo@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Use them as firewood

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Read somewhere that the elbows thing comes from the days where tables were just planks of wood sitting on something. Your elbows would tip the board over so it was a dick move to knock everyone's food over. Anyway idk if it's true but it's a neat idea

[–] AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody's gonna die.

Come watch TV?

[–] papalonian@kbin.social 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

ITT: bad philosophical arguments

[–] Bonehead@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Welcome to every discussion on every digital medium that's ever existed?

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Think you mean Welcome to Earth

What's important is you all remember I Am Right And You Are Wrong

[–] hexaflexagonbear@hexbear.net 9 points 2 years ago

I'm pretty sure "moral relativism" is in the realm of metaethics and not ethics. There's a distinction between making a claim about morality and making a claim about how moral claims are made.

[–] ikiru@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Well, this one seems to be going over better than your last philosophy meme.

I appreciated both of them, by the way.

[–] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 years ago

Thanks, I appreciate the sentiment. I'm still going to take a pause on the philosophy memes as I literally can't stop myself from arguing in the comments and I should be working lol

[–] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

That same One Weird Trick has been used to academically shoot down logical positivism as well.

The idea that only matter exists and that only things that can be measured in a laboratory environment exist in a meaningful way (concepts don't real) is itself an idea that can not be measured in a laboratory environment.

[–] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

At least the logical positivists where philosophically rigorous enough to drop the view when they realized it's untenable.

[–] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago

Academically, yes. Logical positivism persisted and had an unofficial resurgence among the "academia is bunk" junk/pop science crowd. I saw it pop up, by name, more than a few times on reddit-logo in years past.

[–] M68040@hexbear.net 2 points 2 years ago

My main takeaway from philosophy is that I hate philosophy and mostly just want to wing it. So much hair splitting

[–] RIP_Cheems@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago
[–] Remmock@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

According to Morality and Ethics 101, a universal moral truth is an ethic.

[–] stu@lemmy.pit.ninja -2 points 2 years ago (5 children)

I've never heard a rational defense of moral relativism that made any sense. If there are no moral truths, then serial killers have done nothing wrong for example. If a moral relativist admits that there are some moral truths, then moral relativism is completely indefensible. At that point, you're just arguing over what is and what is not a moral truth.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

Universal moral truths. Like absolutes. We can say killing is bad, but many would say killing a mass murderer currently on a murder spree would be more moral than letting them kill a bunch of people.

[–] nparkinglot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 years ago

There’s a fundamental misunderstanding here that seems suspiciously like a bad faith argument.

[–] Cabrio@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Sure, and how does your understanding contend with the concept of a serial killer of Nazis? Or a capitalist?

[–] MooseBoys@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

If there are no moral truths, then serial killers have done nothing wrong for example

This does not follow from moral relativism. Moral relativism simply states the morality of serial killers is determined by people rather than an absolute truth.

For example, if you add the detail of “serial killer of humans”, most societies would deem that morally wrong. In contrast, “serial killer of wasps” would be considered perfectly fine by many. A moral relativist would say the difference between these two is determined by society.

You can, of course, claim that murdering humans is not morally wrong. A moral absolutist might say “you’re wrong because X”, while a moral relativist might say “I don’t agree because X”.