7/6/2023 0 Comments Simon blackburn think summary![]() ![]() Values represent a specific kind of desire that you are prepared to make public and insist upon from others.īlackburn goes on to say that the idea that ethics is about promoting welfare and avoiding suffering is a commonplace of every moral philosopher, not a discovery of science (as he claims Sam Harris has it): "Where the moral philosophers find the going difficult is in having an adequate conception of human flourishing." But "as to whether you need nothing but science", "I don't agree with Sam about that and neither do the other three speakers we've heard so far."īlackburn grounds this in the traditional fact/value distinction but focuses on the functions of mental states rather than on ontology: where beliefs represent the world as it is, desires and concerns represent it as one would like it to be. ![]() There is no doubt, he notes, that "science can inform our values" (and I would add that this goes trivially for many other types of knowledge). In a debate with Patricia Churchland, Peter Singer, Sam Harris, and Lawrence Krauss, Simon Blackburn explains why Harris simply has it wrong on whether science can provide substantive guidance on morality: ![]()
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