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That's the purpose of science, to determine as objectively as possible what and who is right and wrong. If you think that there is anything at all objective any

by wilg 7y ago

That's the purpose of science, to determine as objectively as possible what and who is right and wrong. If you think that there is anything at all objective anywhere in the universe, then science is a good strategy for figuring that out.

coldtea 7y ago
>That's the purpose of science, to determine as objectively as possible what and who is right and wrong. And yet, that's not logically possible, as it's circular reasoning. You basically take a principle of faith (e.g. regarding induction), and you combine it with an empirical method.
- wilg 7y ago
  I'm saying that if there are true things about the world to know, then science can help you figure out what they are. If you define "right" and "wrong" as "true" and "false" then you can understand them via science.
  - coldtea 7y ago
    >If you define "right" and "wrong" as "true" and "false" then you can understand them via science. There's nothing "true" and "false" about not defauding you/killing you/treating you like shit you if I'm to benefit from it. Scientifically speaking it's just a cost/benefit calculation (e.g. whether I'd get caught or not). Many people go for just that. We call them sociopaths. If we all started doing just that (and ignored moral principles), society would be chaos. Science can't replace morallity, except in trivial cases. Even if science says "it is true that society would be better if everybody did X" (e.g. didn't do X bad thing) that's still not enough of a basis for a morality. Because for science it is also true individually that "If you can do X and know you wont have any negative backslash on you particularly, you can benefit from it".
throw0101a 7y ago
How does science determine whether genocide is right or wrong?
- wilg 7y ago
  We don't know yet whether we can figure that out with science.
  - throw0101a 7y ago
    Yes, the belief that we must base all of our knowledge on science is itself a "religious" belief: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism * https://blog.apaonline.org/2018/01/25/the-problem-with-scientism/ https://blog.apaonline.org/2018/01/25/the-problem-with-scien...

by wilg 7y ago

coldtea 7y ago

>That's the purpose of science, to determine as objectively as possible what and who is right and wrong. And yet, that's not logically possible, as it's circular reasoning. You basically take a principle of faith (e.g. regarding induction), and you combine it with an empirical method.

wilg 7y ago
I'm saying that if there are true things about the world to know, then science can help you figure out what they are. If you define "right" and "wrong" as "true" and "false" then you can understand them via science.
- coldtea 7y ago
  >If you define "right" and "wrong" as "true" and "false" then you can understand them via science. There's nothing "true" and "false" about not defauding you/killing you/treating you like shit you if I'm to benefit from it. Scientifically speaking it's just a cost/benefit calculation (e.g. whether I'd get caught or not). Many people go for just that. We call them sociopaths. If we all started doing just that (and ignored moral principles), society would be chaos. Science can't replace morallity, except in trivial cases. Even if science says "it is true that society would be better if everybody did X" (e.g. didn't do X bad thing) that's still not enough of a basis for a morality. Because for science it is also true individually that "If you can do X and know you wont have any negative backslash on you particularly, you can benefit from it".

throw0101a 7y ago

How does science determine whether genocide is right or wrong?

wilg 7y ago
We don't know yet whether we can figure that out with science.
- throw0101a 7y ago
  Yes, the belief that we must base all of our knowledge on science is itself a "religious" belief: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism * https://blog.apaonline.org/2018/01/25/the-problem-with-scientism/ https://blog.apaonline.org/2018/01/25/the-problem-with-scien...