I am a Moral Nihilist

Ethics
535

There is a sense in which it is better to work in the opposite direction. Given the existence of moral claims, could nothing be claimed to be good or bad?

In the past when I have had a good-faith interlocutor who really wanted to gain some insight into moral realism I might start with something like this:

  1. One ought not randomly stab a knife deep into their thigh
  2. Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you
  3. Therefore, one ought not randomly stab a knife deep into another’s thigh

This seems basic, but I would also say it is persuasive and even true. Most everyone accepts this argument.

What are some of the tacit premises in play? Here are some which justify (1):

    1. One ought not randomly harm themselves
    1. Randomly stabbing a knife deep into one’s thigh is randomly harming oneself
  • C1. Therefore, one ought not randomly stab a knife deep into their thigh

Another tacit premise connects (2) to (4):

  1. Harm is bad (ceteris paribus)
  2. Therefore, random harm is always bad
  3. Therefore, one never wishes to be randomly harmed
  4. Therefore, one would not have others randomly harm them
  5. Therefore, one should not randomly harm others {from 2 & 9}

(4) also follows, from (8).

That may be overly analytic for your taste, but I want to drum up some syllogisms given the lacuna of rational inference occurring in the puppy-case. Argument 1-3 is pretty basic. We all probably accept it (even though (2) has not yet received any explicit justification). But note how that argument requires tacit premises about what is good and bad, such as (6). Argument 1-3 only functions in light of premises like (6).*

This is part of @Count_Timothy_von_Icarus’ point about the relation between the fact/value distinction and the is/ought distinction. If (6) is simultaneously a fact and a value, and if it counts as an ‘is’, it is nevertheless true that we are able to reach ‘oughts’ like (3).

* Note too that (2) and its opposite function as bridges between self-treatment and other-treatment. Such are important because most everyone knows how to “treat themselves,” so to speak. They have a good basic sense of what is good and bad for them, and therefore how they wish to be treated.

On taking a shit