Yes, that’s the point; if we can’t tolerate any uncertainty, then in essence nothing is provable and there’s nothing to do. It’s inconsistent to assert that I must have perfect knowledge about something while acting as though I exist when you have no way of verifying that.
When you say that you have a degree, you mean specifically in philosophy, correct?
It’s inconsistent to assert that I must have perfect knowledge about something while acting as though I exist when you have no way of verifying that.
there are ethical systems that can exist even if we don’t. kantian ethics require only that you decide what should be universal law and act accordingly. that doesn’t require that you know anything outside of yourself. by contrast, utilitarianism is fraught with epistemic problems.
Every set of axioms is independent of reality by definition. Deontology isn’t special in that way; consequentialist systems are also axiom sets. Furthermore, every ethical system has the same problem when putting it into practice; if you don’t know anything about the world, your ethics system might as well be empty.
Consequentialist axioms impose an ordering on world-states, almost all of which will never exist. I don’t understand how you can think the axioms themselves depend on future events; by definition they wouldn’t be axioms.
solipsism gets us nowhere
Yes, that’s the point; if we can’t tolerate any uncertainty, then in essence nothing is provable and there’s nothing to do. It’s inconsistent to assert that I must have perfect knowledge about something while acting as though I exist when you have no way of verifying that.
When you say that you have a degree, you mean specifically in philosophy, correct?
my focus was logic and scientific reasoning but the undergrad requirements covered ethics
there are ethical systems that can exist even if we don’t. kantian ethics require only that you decide what should be universal law and act accordingly. that doesn’t require that you know anything outside of yourself. by contrast, utilitarianism is fraught with epistemic problems.
Every set of axioms is independent of reality by definition. Deontology isn’t special in that way; consequentialist systems are also axiom sets. Furthermore, every ethical system has the same problem when putting it into practice; if you don’t know anything about the world, your ethics system might as well be empty.
i suppose so, but if your axioms depend on the future, which by definition is unknowable, then it is empty.
Consequentialist axioms impose an ordering on world-states, almost all of which will never exist. I don’t understand how you can think the axioms themselves depend on future events; by definition they wouldn’t be axioms.
if you must do what will cause the most pleasure (or least displeasure), then your axiom depends on knowing the future.
No, acting upon the axiom requires “knowing the future” as you put it.
even knowing how to act requires knowledge of the future in such a paradigm.