[lit-ideas] Re: Univocal philosophy as the value of transcendental claims?
- From: wokshevs@xxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 16:49:57 -0330
I see I am able to retire now, confident that T analyses will not be
cannibalized by the anthropologists. A very articulate and cogently reasoned
post indeed.
"'Nuff said" is indeed the case, but they will hound you for another few days
(weeks?) on this. The subtle point they're missing is that "theft" must be
understood in the descriptive and normative terms you describe for any
"variations" in its sense or identifications of "exculpatory facts" to be
possible. (Oops, there I go again :)
Cheers, Walter
Quoting Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxx>:
> Eric Dean wrote:
>
> "Then I would say the imprecision of such judgments is that while
> there are obvious examples of theft, there are also many and important
> circumstances in which it is not immediately obvious whether it is or
> is not a theft. Perhaps the word 'imprecise' would need to be changed
> here -- maybe I would do better to say the 'uncertain application' of
> such judgments, rather than their 'imprecision'. Before anyone can
> know whether something is a theft, in one those circumstances, we may
> have to ascertain quite a range of ancillary facts."
>
> That there are hard cases, cases where it isn't clear whether a theft
> has occurred, does not alter the moral force of the prohibition.
> Here, the issue is not a matter of knowing how to apply the
> prohibition since the prohibition is simple, "Don't!". Rather, the
> issue lies in ascertaining whether the action in question, in all its
> historical and cultural specificity, could be considered a theft.
> Answering this question will require consideration of context and
> application of moral judgment. In some cases, there will be no clear
> answer and so the case lies in a grey area. What I don't see is how
> having some cases ending up in this grey area changes the universal
> moral force of the prohibition against stealing in those cases that
> are clear.
>
>
>
> :
> > knowing the truth of a moral judgment depends upon our knowing how it can
> be
> > applied to (potentially) real circumstances.
>
> Eric D. again:
>
> "I raise this to ask, sincerely and earnestly: what is the value of
> insisting that there must be some transcendental, universal, common
> meaning of moral terms? What is to be lost if we do not accept that?"
>
> I would suggest that there is a loss in two areas. First, in the area
> of human rights, reference to a transcendental, universal, common
> meaning of moral terms provides a much more robust account of what is
> due to every human being. If everything is only historical,
> ethnically contextual, then documents like the UDHR are far less
> likely to be as effective as they could be. Second, in the area of
> democracy, where reference to a transcendental, universal, common
> meaning of moral terms fixes the equality of all citizens. In a
> liberal democracy, the equality of all citizens depends on the ability
> to universalize moral terms so that any citizen, regardless of their
> historically contingent identity, is to be treated as politically
> equal and equal before the law. If moral judgments are only
> historically and ethnically contingent, then it is much harder to
> explain why all citizens should be treated equally by the state.
>
>
> Finally, Eric D. wonders:
>
> "... Walter (who I hope I've not put off with my relentlessness about this)"
>
> Given the fact that we are both Canadian and shared a drink of Glen's
> liver, I can confidently assert that Walter agrees wholeheartedly with
> everything I am writing here, keeping silent only because there is
> nothing else to say.
>
>
> Sincerely,
> except, perhaps,
> that last bit,
>
> Phil Enns
> Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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