Praxeology with Dr. T

1. With the sound on your computer system turned on and turned up, please Click on the Golden Speaker on the right to hear an important preliminary message: Praxeology with Dr. T

2. Is it All a Matter of Opinion?Hugh Mercer Curtler

3. Relativism is Common • “To each his own.” • “Everybody is entitled to his own opinion.” • “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” • “Different strokes for different folks.” • “Whatever floats your boat.” • “It’s all relative.” • Do we think of ourselves as relativists?

4. What are Ethical Claims About? • Subjects and Cultures? Or Objects and events? • “Brutus was wrong in killing Caesar.” • Am I saying something about myself or my culture? • “I” think he was wrong. • “In my culture” what he did is considered wrong. • This is subjectivism, or relativism. • Am I saying something about the act itself? • The act is wrong in any culture, at any time. • This is objectivism.

5. For the Individual Subjectivist (relativist) . . . • Reasons support only the fact that one does indeed approve or disapprove. • Or perhaps the person will have no reasons at all—just pure opinion/feeling/prejudice. • For the Cultural Relativist . . . • Reasons support the idea that most people in the society do indeed approve or disapprove. • “But Mom, everybody does it!” • For the Objectivist . . . • Reasons support the idea that the act is wrong, regardless of personal or cultural dispositions. • The act itself is always and forever morally wrong.

6. A Side Note on Economics • Economists often say that value and utilities are “subjective.” • Does this mean that they are subjectivists? • No! Not in the ethical sense. • When economists talk of value, they mean such things as preferences, likes, and dislikes, rather than moral judgments of right and wrong.

7. Value Judgments True and False? • For the Objectivist . . . • A claim cannot be both true and false at same time. • The objectivist does not argue that he knows whether a certain claim is true, only that it ISeither true or false, and not both. • For the Subjectivist . . . • A claim can be both true and false for different people in different places, etc.

8. Why was Brutus wrong to kill Caesar? • For the Individual Subjectivist . . . • “I just feel that way. It makes me sick!” • For the Cultural Relativist . . . • “Because it is morally repugnant to people in my culture. Plus, it’s illegal.” • For the Objectivist . . . • “Because it violates ethical principles concerning respect for life and the non-aggression principle which are principles that are basic to any human society anywhere.”

9. Objective versus Relative Claims • Objective claims can be independently verified or falsified. • The average man in the class is taller than the average woman in the class. • Relative claims cannot be verified or falsified. • They say nothing about shared reality. • Jim believes that the average man in the class is taller than the average woman in the class. • What Jim believes cannot be verified independently.

10. The Socratic Method • A continuous process of critically and rationally examining ethical claims, falsifying some, and regarding the remaining claims as true. • The process gradually eliminates subjective and cultural factors, and identifies the factors that are objective.

11. “Shakespeare was a Great Writer.” • How do we know? • Might some people not think that is true? • Is it independently verifiable by anyone?

12. The Flat Earth Folks • Is the idea that the earth is round just an opinion? • Apparently, some think it is just opinion. • They are blinded by prejudice and bias. • They are incapable of rational thought. • The Socratic method tries to eliminate prejudice and bias—which are subjective or cultural factors.

13. Relativism: A Pernicious Doctrine • It ends the discussion before it can begin. • By suggesting that there is never a correct (objectively verifiable) answer for anything. • By ignoring the value of reason in ethical argumentation.

14. “Ethical claims can be supported by reasonable arguments and evidence that command the respect and assent of people of intelligence and goodwill anywhere and at any time.” • If this is true, do you think the realm of objective, justifiable, ethical claims is large, or small? • Are there any conceptual problems with the above statement?

15. Good afternoon, good evening, and good night.