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Appeals to nature are suspect, appeals to the irrelevancy of nature are outright dishonest.
by rudrigu 10y ago
Appeals to nature are suspect, appeals to the irrelevancy of nature are outright dishonest.
- woodruffw 10y agoNature is irrelevant in moral discussions, as are all variables that exist beyond the agent's control. Blame and approbation come from choice made by the agent, not for the agent. Nature is useful for understanding why something amoral is the case (like sexual dimorphism), but does not and should not inform our understanding of what ought to be the case.
- rudrigu 10y agoWhat ought to be is what benefits the tribe. More people benefit the tribe, because you then have expendable males that can be used to pillage the neighboring tribes. Unless you have depleted the environment (e.g., overhunting), there is no incentive to abstain from breeding as much as possible.