I decide to start off with a discussion question that I once had with my friends. The central question that we have is
Does there exist an absolute objective value judgment, or all the values we consider follow some constructed social contrasts?
Of course there are, as you can see that the human civilization is developing and the worldview of most people are getting better. These are all thank to the common values that we hold about love and peace. It’s with these beliefs that we all work towards a same goal.
Why do you think the human civilization is developing? Is it due to technological innovations? Then the society of cyberpunk is a paradise. And also, why do you think the worldview of most people are getting better. To a monarchist, our current society is a disaster.
The defeat of Nazi’s, end of slavery, and rising women’s rights all demonstrate such development. Now in most places we have equality, democracy, and freedom. On the one hand, we enjoy the advancement of technological innovation, while on the other hand, we are not backlashed by it.
Why do you think equality, democracy, and freedom are good? From which standpoint that you jump to this conclusion?
Equality means everyone is given similar amount of opportunities. Democracy guaurantees our government to be listened by our people. Freedom promotes chances so that no one is controlled. They are all better off than the characterisitcs of a slavery society, where a lot of people have no freedom nor voices. Their very well-being are highly dependent upon their masters.
Why is given the chance a good thing? You mentioned about being better off, why is it so? In math we can compare two numbers as to 4 less than 5, but here what is the comparison based off?
Following your logic, if these moral standards don’t exist, why is it the unemployment rate decreasing, economy prosperating, violence decreasing. Objectively speaking, these are all values that humans endorse. Otherwise, would you think that killing, bullying, stealing is a good thing?
Why is it not? For a strong person who could take advantage of his/her body strength, it’s a good thing for sure. You are not answering the question of “why” are they good, but simply listing things. Your logic is based upon having some basic “good” things, like axioms in math, whereas they don’t actually exist.
Okay… But if you ask 100 people, I believe there’s 99 of them would argue in a similar way, calling for love and peace. Is this a pure coincidence?
To be honest, if you asked the same question to the people centuries ago, they would have given you totally different, or even opposite answers. So, the central question is back , does there exist an absolute objective value judgment, or all the values we consider follow some constructed social contrasts?
It then enters into a loop, as the debate ended with the winning of the post-modernist view – our subjective value judgement depends upon the constructed social contracts with barely any “objectivity” involved. Some of the questions can be answered in an economic or biological point of view, like why do we avoid violence or why do we promote love and peace, but speaking of the moral value judgements, there’s no universal answer of what’s good or bad, but only subjective ideas that’s subjected to the constructed social construct. Therefore, I made this small collage that demonstrates this.
