[MD] The MOQ's First Principle

[david buchanan]

Ian asked dmb:
Could you state the 3 vs 4 distinction "clearly" ?

dmb says:
The point and purpose of the third level is to increase freedom by taming 
and molifying the biological values while the point and purpose of the 
fourth level in to increase freedom by taming and molifying social values. 
The difference in these aims is what makes democracy and human rights an 
intellectual level value and that's why social level morality is about sex 
and the other appetites. This is the basic principle or idea behind the 
distinction. They can also be thought of in terms of levels of cognition 
where the third level represents convention and common sense while intellect 
is more about skilled critical thinking and there are other dimensions worth 
exploring, but that's the basic idea.

Ian said:
In what you might call one of my complicating factors, I refer to as the 
"socio-cultural-intellectual continuum", I do still have social and 
intellectual axes within a cutural continuum of course, I just find it hard 
to see them as parallel / distict / independent layers. ..The fact that we 
debate social and intellectual issues is a cultural phenomenon, if you like. 
...So I guess, I repeat the question what clear distinction do you see?

dmb says:
Yes, this is a fine example of the confusion I was complaining about and you 
are as guilty as anyone in repeatedly blurring such distinctions. But its 
not all that tricky. The old idea of Socratic inquiry expresses it well 
enough. The philosopher or intellectual is supposed to be willing to 
scrutinize their own cultural traditions, to be criticial of conventional 
wisdom, to be skeptical about the existence of the gods, etc.. So the 
ability to recognize this distinction, one would presume, should be apparent 
to anyone who'd be interested in a place like this. And, since the answer I 
gave above is a repeat already, I'll reverse the question and ask you. What 
is it about this distinction that you do not get?

Thanks,
dmb

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