On Aug 26, 5:50 pm, Malrassic Park
hotmail.com> wrote:> On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:05:16 -0700 (PDT), clamato
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operamail.com> wrote:>>On Aug 25, 11:02 pm, Malrassic Park
hotmail.com> wrote:>>> On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:38:24 -0700 (PDT), clamato
> .
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operamail.com> wrote:>>>>On Aug 23, 5:00 pm, BSD
gmail.com> wrote:>>>>> Consequetialism - "If the result is not harmful, then any means is
>>>>> justified"
>>>>> Empiricism - "There is no evidence that it is harmful"
> .
>>>>Empiricism is not in any way about ethics or morals.
>>>>It is an epistomology -- a theory about how we know things to
>>>>be true.
> .
>>> How does an empiricist know the proposition "There is no evidence that
>>> it is harmful" to be true or false?
> .
>>Repeated observation. If it is a scientific empiricist, experiment
>>and
>>observation that is publicly repeatable would also come into play.
>>But "empiricism" is uninterested in ethics. That is just how it would
>>answer a question about whether something was harmful if asked.
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> That depends. If you asked empiricist David Hume if he was interested
> in moral theory, I'm sure the answer would be quite different.
>
> --
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> " If I had remembered that the name 'Galt' appears
> in one of her books, I would have chosen a different
> name for my character."
>
> Stephen R. Donaldson, "Gradual Interview"
Well, here is hume on the relation of morals to his empiricism.
If you don't believe me, then take it from the source:
Morals and criticism are not so properly objects of understanding as
of taste and sentiment. Beauty, whether moral or natural, is felt more
properly than perceived. Or if we reason concerning it and endeavor to
fix the standard, we regard a new fact, to wit, the general taste of
mankind, or some such fact which may be the object of reasoning and
inquiry... When we run over libraries, persuaded of these principles,
what havoc must we make? If we take in our hand any volume -- of
divinity or school metaphysics for instance -- let us ask, Does it
contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does
it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and
existence? No. Commit it then to the flames, for it can contain
nothing but sophistry and illusion.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, section XII part 3
