From: Dan Fabulich (daniel.fabulich@yale.edu)
Date: Wed Dec 09 1998 - 06:49:29 MST
Nick Bostrom wrote:
>You don't think there is anything wrong with torturing innocent
>people for a little fun?!
>
>I don't want to advocate any specific interpretation of moral
>statements here. But however we choose to interpret such statements,
>it does seem to be a fact that almost all reasonable people agree
>that it is wrong (whatever that means) to torture innocent people
>for a little fun. *If* there are "objective" truths in ethics (which
>I am not claiming) then I think we can be fairly confident that that
>is one of them.
<shrug> While even I agree with you on this point, our near universal
moral repugnance to this idea suggests that it may be evolutionarily based.
If so, then the conviction is far from objective, but rather simply due to
our common heritage; had game theory allowed us to hold a different view
and develop into an intelligent society, we might think it objectively true
that torturing the pedestrians is the highest moral good.
-Dan
-GIVE ME IMMORTALITY OR GIVE ME DEATH-
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