Submitted by BernardJOrtcutt t3_11qaiuh in philosophy
slickwombat t1_jcr86xc wrote
Reply to comment by hearkening-hobbit in /r/philosophy Open Discussion Thread | March 13, 2023 by BernardJOrtcutt
Harris' issue there is that he doesn't understand the is/ought gap. He seems to think it's the thesis that there cannot be moral facts, when it's just the idea that any argument for a normative conclusion must contain a normative premise (i.e., that the conclusion must follow from its premises). And his own take on moral philosophy actually does bridge this gap, since it goes roughly like this:
- If our intuitions clearly indicate that some moral principle is true, then it is true.
- Our intuitions clearly indicate that we ought to maximize the well-being of conscious creatures.
- Therefore, we ought to maximize the well-being of conscious creatures.
That he doesn't acknowledge this might be continuing ignorance, general bloodymindedness, or just the fact that, laid out this way, it's clear that his project is a philosophical rather than "scientific" one as he purports. In any case, the actual problem with his moral philosophy isn't is/ought. It's that he doesn't argue for either premise well, nor even really explain sufficiently what "maximizing the well-being of conscious creatures" means.
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