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WJM on Arguing with Subjectivists

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Zeroseven said:  “Hi Vivid, I’m not much of a logician. Just give your practical example and we can explore it.”

If you are not going to explore a practical example logically, what use is exploring it at all? To share your personal feelings?

Here’s the problem in for those that wish to interact with Aleta, Zeroseven and Clown Fish: it is utterly unimportant to them that their worldview, statements and behavior be logically consistent. This is why it simply doesn’t bother them to admit that they are hypocrites – insisting on one thing (that morality is subjective) while behaving the opposite way (like morality is objective), and why they keep raising objections that have already been thoroughly refuted (like morality is subjective because people don’t agree about it).

They do not enter conversations with a critical rationalism that they may be wrong about morality being subjective; they “know” it is subjective. Since they are not “logicians” and don’t care if their logic is in error, what good is rationally demonstrating the logical errors in their views? Their idea that morality is subjective is not based on any logical examination of their worldview premises leading to inferences then to rational explanations for actual behavior; it is based solely on sentiment – an emotional rejection of what objective morality would mean (theism), and personal sentiments about other people and their behaviors.

You cannot prove someone wrong about their subjective sentiments no matter how irrational or hypocritical those sentiments are. You cannot logically argue someone out of a faulty view if they didn’t come to that view via logic and if they do not consider logic a valid arbiter of truth.

While these exchanges are good as object lessons for many viewers, erroneous emotional investments cannot be corrected rationally. One would have to actually be committed to having a rationally coherent perspective before any logical argument might penetrate their commitment to their emotional views.

Without believing there is a truth by which some views can be considered erroneous, there is no valid corrective by which one can think they should correct their view. It’s just their personal, sentimental view of how things are, and they do not have to justify that view because there is – in their mind – no objective truth to such matters, and logic is not an arbiter of any real, objective truths.

I would add that while what WJM says is true, the logical incoherence of their views does not stop them from advocating for the use of the State’s monopoly on violence to force you and me to abide by those views.  Does anyone else see the irony of a moral subjectivist forcing a Christian baker to use his artistic skill to celebrate a homosexual wedding?

Comments
Trumper: "“Given that I have only commented a couple weeks”… yikes.. so now you seem to have lost track of time too…. as you have been commenting for far more than just a couple weeks… can you actually state the truth or are you more at home with lying? Just how many ‘weeks’ has CF been commenting?" Hmm. Since May 18. How long ago is that? Several months as you claim? Or closer to a couple weeks as I claimed? So, you are proven wrong on me intentionally mangling names (Mung not withstanding) and now you are proven wrong on how long I have been commenting here. Your credibility must be taking a beating. Are there any other things you would like to accuse me of? Perhaps torturing babies? Or persecuting Christians?clown fish
June 2, 2016
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Trumper: "@ CF- So my point of you modifying user aliases can be shown not only in this thread but other threads (as far as a few months back that I am concerned with)…yes childish." All you have to do is prove it. "@Zeroseven – Thanks but what is NZ?" You really have to get out of the hills of Kentucky and open an atlas. :) New Zealand.clown fish
June 2, 2016
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Hi 07, this is completely off topic but I spent a couple weeks in NZ (north island only) a year ago February. What a beautiful part of the world. I highly recommend it for everyone. But one word of caution. The locals do not take kindly to tourists from countries that drive on the right renting a car there. A second word of caution, they have an a natural attraction to cricket.clown fish
June 2, 2016
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@ CF- So my point of you modifying user aliases can be shown not only in this thread but other threads (as far as a few months back that I am concerned with)...yes childish. "Given that I have only commented a couple weeks"... yikes.. so now you seem to have lost track of time too.... as you have been commenting for far more than just a couple weeks... can you actually state the truth or are you more at home with lying? Just how many 'weeks' has CF been commenting? @Zeroseven - Thanks but what is NZ? "but if it is just towards Mung...." LOL gotta give you that one.Trumper
June 2, 2016
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mike1962 @ 61
BA: Seversky asserts that the Holocaust was evil only “in my opinion.” Then he asks “Isn’t that enough?” If he really cannot see the Holocaust was truly and absolutely evil, then he is blind, and we cannot fault him nor help him. If he does see that it was evil, and denies it, he is a liar
I agree that the Holocaust in my opinion was unmitigated evil, just as it was in your opinion. I argue, however, that evil, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. If you think that there is some moral yardstick out there somewhere against which all behavior can be measured then feel free to tell us all where we can find it.Seversky
June 2, 2016
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Trumper: In NZ it's called the Human Rights Act. Not sure what its called in your jurisdiction. No, I hadn't noticed Clownfish doing that. But if its just towards Mung that's ok.zeroseven
June 2, 2016
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Trumper: "Do you recall how to spell my alias? Trumped or Trumper?" It must be nice to never have misspelled a word. If you have been following for months, as you say you have, you will see that I have misspelled many words. "I can go back a few months of this type of behavior too.. but luckily I only need to go back as far as this thread to show it." Given that I have only been commenting for a couple weeks, that would be a nice trick. "I have no intention of disrupting your love relationship with Mung and Charles would be less of a pseudonym eh?" Sorry, you lost me there.clown fish
June 2, 2016
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Truth Will Set You Free @ 58
Forcing a private bakery to make a cake for homosexuals is an outrageous attack on individual liberty, and an ominous sign of things to come. Things are going to get much worse…for everyone.
In the Colorado case, they were prosecuted for being in breach of a state law which prohibited public enterprises like a bakery from discriminating against their customers on the grounds of religion, race, sex etc. The court decided against them on those grounds. The free exercise of your religious beliefs doesn't mean you can get away with anything. While society should uphold that right for all, the line should reasonably be drawn where the exercise of religion infringes on the rights of others. You could not, to take an extreme example, kill a child at a religious ceremony and defend it on the grounds that a central tenet of your faith requires that a child be sacrificed to propitiate your god.Seversky
June 2, 2016
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Barry Arrington @ 51
Seversky asserts that the Holocaust was evil only “in my opinion.” Then he asks “Isn’t that enough?” No, Sev, it is not enough. You might as well have said “Holocausts are not to my taste, but I acknowledge that someone else might have a different taste.” Something is very wrong when your moral nihilism reduces you to thinking about the “Holocaust-Peace on Earth” choice in the same terms as the “Chocolate-Vanilla” choice.
Then it's a good job that's not what I think. Whatever you're trying to imply, not all opinions are trivial. My opinion about the Holocaust is not in any way equivalent to my opinion of vanilla except in being an opinion.
You know for an absolute certainty that the choices are not in the same category. Yet you are forced by your premises to pretend that they are. Here’s a clue Sev. When your premises force you to affirm a position that no sane person would affirm, perhaps you should reject those premises.
I acknowledged that Nazis thought that the Holocaust was a good thing. That doesn't mean I agree with them. Neither did most of the rest of the world. Are you saying those opinions count for nothing?Seversky
June 2, 2016
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Thanks CF... so it looks like you disagree with one's freedoms of core beliefs. Is this more of a state regulated belief system or national one? Sure it would be great to have all children find a good safe home to be raised in....mostly the child can't choose their home... heck they couldn't choose that they were to be born or not right? so why not place a white child with a black couple back in the 50's... pretty sick game that would of been eh? (i.e. your point is worthless now if you value the child foremost). I have very very close friends/family who are gay/bi and I have a great relationship with them...I actually pray for them often as a few of them have found a clearer path. (not claiming responsibility). Unfortunately my personal experience has exposed the more hateful and bigoted actions by the lgbt-xyz group in forcing the shuttering of real businesses and closing of adoption services...real lives... sadly the evidence stacks up against what you are trying to claim/hide. I still love you, and pray that you can find the Light Love and Truth that is available to us as we work our way through this 'life'. CF responds to my post about morphing user aliases: "Really? The only one I have done this to intentionally is Mung because of his childish tendency to stalk me " So if I prove that you have done this more that just once then you would be a liar... Do you recall how to spell my alias? Trumped or Trumper? I can go back a few months of this type of behavior too.. but luckily I only need to go back as far as this thread to show it. I have no intention of disrupting your love relationship with Mung and Charles would be less of a pseudonym eh?Trumper
June 2, 2016
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Clown fish triggered https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy6spOAbxhgEugen
June 2, 2016
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Hi Mungy. Obviously you suffer from the same reading comprehension problems that KairosFocus does. If you were interested, you could simply read back on my comments about OUGHT and morality. But you won't. So, feel free to repeat the same childish statements in response to any of my comments if it makes you feel important. Most of us grew out of that stage in our early teens. Within time, I am confident that you will as well.clown fish
June 2, 2016
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The hypocrisy is strong. .. "Don't force your religious morality on me" says the materialist but you will bake my friend a cake.... "I don't care about your morals only my own" says the materialist. " Oh and we must all be tolorant even if I create a law to force you to do so" says the materialist.Andre
June 2, 2016
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Also, “Clowny Fishfood” – isn’t that a bit childish? So? Please remove the implied moral ought from that statement and resubmit.Mung
June 2, 2016
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clown fish: By the way, did you know why I chose Clown Fish as my pseudonym? Because you found in it a denial of objective moral values while also finding in it an affirmation of objective moral values. Could you at least make an attempt to exclude the implied moral ought from your questions and proclamations here at UD, given your insistence that any stated or implied moral ought is merely your subjective opinion.Mung
June 2, 2016
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Trumper: "Maybe you missed all the silly derivations clowny posts on users aliases…" Really? The only one I have done this to intentionally is Mung because of his childish tendency to stalk me around and question every comment, regardless of subject, with, "why OUGHT I believe you?" Other than this, the only other incident I am aware of is my iPhone autocorrecting Phinehas to something else. But since Clown Fish is a pseudonym, I have no problem if you play games with it, or even use my real name. By the way, did you know why I chose Clown Fish as my pseudonym?clown fish
June 2, 2016
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Hi Trumper, for the longest time I was in favour of SSM but on the fence about adoption. But I have done some research and have personal experience with a few gay couples with children. In short, the challenges faced by kids raised by same sex parents has nothing to do with the lack of a male father or a female mother. It has more to do with the bigoted intolerance that they experience from close-minded, sadly often religious, homophobes. It wasn't too long ago that adoption agencies would not place a black child with a white couple, or vice versa. You don't change bigoted attitudes by giving into them. You change them by facing them head on. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I now support the ability of same sex couples to adopt.clown fish
June 2, 2016
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Zero - Couple things: "rather the baker complied with the law than close down." -what law is this that you are referring to? Please state "Clowny Fishfood” – isn’t that a bit childish?" -Yes...yes it is a bit childish but sometimes one needs to lower their platform to converse with the childish... Maybe you missed all the silly derivations clowny posts on users aliases... but that would require you to chastise CF...and you have not... hmmmmm now that there seems a bit childish or just a lack of being astute.Trumper
June 2, 2016
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Also, "Clowny Fishfood" - isn't that a bit childish?zeroseven
June 2, 2016
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Trumper its not about love. Or hate. Why do you guys go to extremes all the time? I imaging the LGBT "group" whatever that is, would just rather the baker complied with the law than close down.zeroseven
June 2, 2016
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@Clowny Fishfood - The sad state of the liberal slant is not about love but about hate (discrimination and intolerance). The LGBT-xyz group would rather close down a bakery instead accepting that there actually exists a view counter their own. Sadly we see the destruction of lives that this camp pushes out due to the ending of adoption services for children....Thousands upon thousands of children lost opportunities to land in a family due to the homosexual agenda of 'fairness'. In other words... intolerance of Catholic Charities adoption service forced it to shut down since they would not violate their free beliefs.... Maybe it would of been better if adoption agencies were forced to actually place children into every household regardless of safety or anything...just deal out the kids like a card from a deck. Oh well , probably for the better that they were shut down eh?Trumper
June 2, 2016
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Sorry Mike, I'm just a bit busy to respond in depth. A couple of hours until the end of the working week here and a few things to wrap up. Don't have time to read the link. But personally, yes, I would have gone somewhere more friendly if it was me. And if I encountered that attitude I would have walked away and found someone who wasn't a bigot. But that's just me and its not about me, its about the principle.zeroseven
June 2, 2016
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Zeroseven, I didn't expect you would actually engage what I wrote in any substantive way. "taking a break from judging other people’s lives and calling them sinful and just enjoy your own" The gay couple could have easier followed your advice and gone to another baker, who was even gay himself, and gladly taken their money. There are lots of them out there. Problem solved. But no, they whined and had to "teach them a lesson." Just big bullies. Pathetic that you can't see that. What do you think about this man's view of the cake baker situation? http://www.christianpost.com/news/are-you-stupid-gay-baker-rips-lgbt-community-for-forcing-christian-bakers-to-make-cakes-for-same-sex-weddings-141798/mike1962
June 2, 2016
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Mike1962: Clearly you are not a fan of human rights legislation. Does it actually say in the bible that homosexuality is an abominable sin? (fyi, what I mean about smelling the roses, is just taking a break from judging other people's lives and calling them sinful and just enjoy your own).zeroseven
June 2, 2016
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clown fish: Things like that is what makes me optimistic for society in the future. Why, if it's all subjective? Things could swing in an instant and not be any more or less objectively right or wrong. According to you. Fortunately no one acts as if you're right. Not even you.Mung
June 2, 2016
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clown fish: So, when Rosa Parks and the black teens exerted their morally dubious behaviour, which it was characterized as at the time, they should have been ashamed of themselves? Try asking this question again after having stripped it of the implied objective moral ought that you deny exists.Mung
June 2, 2016
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Kairosfocus: "CF, a wise person does not focus personal identity on morally questionable behaviour or attitudes, but instead starts from his or her morally governed, responsibly free nature and what that points to at the root of reality. Further to this such a person will not falsely claim as a right state backed power to intimidate others into supporting or enabling in morally dubious behavior" So, when Rosa Parks and the black teens exerted their morally dubious behaviour, which it was characterized as at the time, they should have been ashamed of themselves? What is most interesting is that the gays who are suing the bakers and florist and photographers and reprehensible county clerks, are being supported by people who, thirty years ago, would have supported the bakers, florists, photographers and reprehensible county clerks. That, my young man, really speaks volumes. Another story that hit the news recently was one in which a high school student, who was at the top of his class, was prevented by the school to give the valedictory address simply because he was gay. Most of the uproar against this bigoted action did not come from the LGBT community, it came from your basic "traditional" families. Things like that is what makes me optimistic for society in the future.clown fish
June 2, 2016
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A gay baker speaks out against the cake bullies: http://www.christianpost.com/news/are-you-stupid-gay-baker-rips-lgbt-community-for-forcing-christian-bakers-to-make-cakes-for-same-sex-weddings-141798/mike1962
June 2, 2016
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Subjectivity does actually have a logic of it's own. The rule of subjectivity is to choose about what chooses, which procedure results in an opinion. That means that if one is forced to a conclusion, then it is a logically invalid opinion. If one is forced to say the painting is beautiful, it is an invalid opinion. Objectivity otoh uses the logic of correspondence. Evidence forces to produce a 1 to 1 model of what is evidenced, that model is the facts. For example if the police ask for the facts about what happened, they want a 1 to 1 corresponding model of what happened. Obviously the idea of "objective morality" is riddled with logic errors.mohammadnursyamsu
June 2, 2016
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kairosFocus: “07, are you aware of why freedom of conscience and worship is regarded as one of the fundamental freedoms? KF” Clown Fish
are you aware that freedom of conscience does not extend to discrimination?
Religious freedom allows for free public expression and the ability to act on one's religious beliefs. Legal Discrimination is not the act of refusing service. It is the act of unjustly refusing to give service. To refuse on the grounds that giving such service would compromise one's religious faith is not unjust. To refuse because someone happens to be a member of a social group is unjust.
I still have a hard time understanding how being Christian allows you to deny services to someone because they are gay.
That is because Christians do not typically do that, as explained above. It is not the refusal that defines discrimination. It is the reason for the refusal.StephenB
June 2, 2016
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