Moral Discourse and the Value of Philosophy (with Ronny Fernandez)

1. Distinguish Desired vs. Actual Values

Recognize the difference between what you actually care about and what you want to care about, as your true cares are not always up to you, but endorsing them is. This helps clarify your motivations and avoid self-deception.

2. Engage in Moral Trade

Instead of endlessly arguing or fighting over moral disagreements, seek opportunities for “moral trade” where parties can cooperate to achieve more of what they each want the world to be like, even if their values differ. This fosters getting along and practical benefits.

3. Question Moral Discourse’s Factual Claims

Be skeptical of moral statements (e.g., “X is wrong”) being factual claims about the world, as it’s often difficult to make sense of what such claims would mean or how they could be settled. This encourages a more nuanced understanding of moral arguments.

4. Care Beyond Direct Experience

Recognize that it is coherent and reasonable to care about things that are not directly within anyone’s conscious experience, such as the fate of an artist’s work after their death or whether your children genuinely love you. This broadens the scope of what you can value.

5. Use Evolutionary Lens for Morality

Employ an evolutionary perspective to understand morality as a coordination mechanism that promotes group cohesion, keeps preferences stable across time, and enables self-punishment for better cooperation. This provides a useful analytical framework.

6. Be Wary of Moral Discourse Distractions

Understand that moral discourse can distract you from what you actually care about, leading to sacrifices of true values (e.g., truth) in pursuit of what you think you’re supposed to care about (e.g., only experiences). This encourages self-reflection on underlying motivations.

7. Foster Widespread Cooperation

For major societal challenges like nuclear weapons or climate change, prioritize and seek widespread cooperation, as unilateral solutions are insufficient. This emphasizes collective action over individual or national efforts.

8. Strive for Consensus on Truth

Actively work towards achieving consensus on what is true about important topics, as the inability to agree on facts (e.g., climate change) makes it impossible to effectively address critical issues. This highlights the importance of shared understanding.

9. Study Philosophy for Conceptual Tools

Engage with philosophy to develop skills in thinking about arguments, making subtle distinctions, and expanding your conceptual repertoire. These skills are useful for understanding complex problems across various fields.

10. Question Intuition in Philosophy

When engaging in philosophical inquiry, consciously try to avoid letting your intuitions influence your conclusions or arguments, as they may not be reliable evidence for the nature of reality. This promotes a more rigorous and objective approach.

11. Recognize ‘Selfishness’ Semantic Traps

Be aware that overly broad definitions of “selfishness” can strip away the meaningful distinctions of altruism, leading to frustrating semantic debates. Clarify terms to engage in more productive discussions about motivation.

12. Be Wary of Philosophical Incentives

Understand that academic philosophy can incentivize arguing for initially implausible but interesting positions, which may not align with the goal of figuring out the truth. This encourages critical evaluation of arguments and their motivations.

13. Collaborate on Disagreement Research

If interested in improving collective rationality, consider collaborating on empirical work to find interventions that make people better at figuring out the truth through conversation and disagreement. Ronnie Fernandez has existing infrastructure and is open to collaborators.