[MD] Morality and Prudence

[Steven Peterson]

Hi Horse,

On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 7:03 AM, Horse <horse at darkstar.uk.net> wrote:
> Hiya Dave
>
> I think what Steve's saying here is something similar to what I said a while
> back.
> As I understand the MoQ, all actions are moral actions (i.e. value
> judgements) but some actions are better or worse than others. And some
> actions are downright immoral - such as intellect being dominated by society
> etc.
>
> In Lila Pirsig states:
> "The Metaphysics of Quality says that if moral judgements are essentially
> assertions of value and if value is the fundamental ground-stuff of the
> world, then moral judgements are the fundamental ground-stuff of the world.
> It says that even at the most fundamental level of the universe, static
> patterns of value and moral judgement are identical. The “Laws of Nature”
> are moral laws."
>
> So, while it is entirely possible (and for some people entirely normal) to
> act immorally, it is impossible to act amorally.
> Pirsig gives many instances of immoral behaviour throughout Lila in relation
> to the MoQ but his references to amoral behaviour are, for the most part, in
> the context of the problems of a SOM - i.e. amorality as a mistake of the
> objective part of SOM.
>
> So neither myself nor Steve (nor Pirsig) are saying that immoral behaviour
> is not possible. Just amoral behaviour/actions etc.

Steve:
Right, Horse, and thanks for digging up that quote. A distinction
between true mortality and mere amoral prudence can't work in the MOQ.
What distinguishes a psychopath from the rest of us cannot be the
_lack_ of morality. We will need to find other ways to talk about what
is wrong with the psychopath in MOQ terms probably by distinguishing
biological and social patterns.