Thursday, October 4, 2012

Comment on UPB page 10

Points 7 and 9 give weight to the ethical instincts, but say nothing about the limits of such. Go to India and ethical instincts are different and much more extensive (see Jonathan Haidt "The Righteous Mind"). Point 9 contradicts itself when parsed strictly. No new counterintuitive truths can sprout from the theory without violating intuitions. Clearly Molyneux meant something like "the best theories give us good reasons to believe some of our intuitions while denying others." Or something like that. Or perhaps he would put a different meaning on "instinct" and "intuition" that allows only the most universal taboos, such as murder, rape, and theft.

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