Mark S

My proposal is that people understand that all cultural moral norms can be explained as parts of strategies to solve cooperation problems. That knowle...

Claiming something like “Cooperation is moral” fails for just the reasons you describe. People can, and too often do, cooperate to exploit outgroups. ...

The point of my OP is that the cooperation strategies that compose past and present cultural moral norms are innate to our universe. So, no, morality ...

I agree with Prinz that our moral judgments (values) are initially grounded in innate emotional responses. But my consideration of higher levels of ca...

I derive no 'oughts' from 'is' in either OP's thread. You might read my above reply to PhilosophyRunner which rebuts your claim.

Items 2., 3., and 4. are inaccurate. More correctly, 1. Observing what "is" through scientific methods – Specifically that the function (the principle...

Consider some cross-culturally common moral norms: Do to others as you would have them do to you. Do not lie, steal, or kill. Contrary to your claim, ...

We profoundly disagree. I'll post a response in a day or two.

I agree. As I said in the OP regarding why this is true:

MACS begins as an observation about all past and present cultural moral norms (including the nasty exploitation of outgroups you mention) being parts ...

To reduce suffering (or increase well-being) for all as an end, I have been thinking that moral means will sometimes include a cost to be paid by thos...

I am happy to address all of those. But I can't talk about everything at once, particularly as I aim for 600 to 1000 words per post. Nowak's theology ...

I prefer “what all well-informed, rational people would advocate as moral regarding interactions between people” after Bernard Gert's definition in th...

You might have a look my most recent comments above to ?SophistiCat. I address at least some of your points.

I should not have mentioned the explanatory power for Mackie’s “queer” properties of bindingness and obligation. I am trying to limit this thread to h...

Of course, science and ethics answer different questions. “How should I live?” – this is a question for moral philosophy about what to do. “Why do cul...

You are correct that people have different moral goals that they feel everyone should conform to. How does that contradict what the science of moralit...

It is Ok with me that you are not convinced. We can simply disagree. The idea that reality can be understood is a metaphysical position. I took your i...

I understand Curry’s two main claims for Morality as Cooperation to be that cross-culturally universal moral judgments 1) solve cooperation problems (...

I am moving to agreement that, in part because of its increasing usage in the science of morality literature, "signaling norms" may be preferrable to ...

Consider getting buy-in for understanding domination moral norms such as “women must be submissive to men” as cooperation to exploit an outgroup. Wome...

So you find no truth value in the OP? Humm…

But our moral sense can also judge domination moral norms as right and even obligatory, such as extreme cases in the middle east of killing one’s daug...

I was hoping someone would ask about the nomenclature. The sociologist Riane Eisler coined the names of the basic patterns of cooperation in societies...

Yes, understanding the function of past and present cultural moral norms as solving cooperation problems does require a worldview – one that accepts, ...

What kind of threat are homosexuals to society? An imaginary one. Being imaginary does not prevent right-wingers in the United States and other places...

From the OP: 1) prohibition of homosexuality – The simple prohibition is a sex taboo marker norm of membership and commitment to a more reliably coope...

I am an admirer of Hume and, perhaps like you, have yet to find any convincing argument for how to derive an imperative ought from what ‘is’ – they ar...

I am not making an ethical proposal of the form “You imperatively ought to do such and so” which would require an explanation of where the ought comes...

Right. You are talking about what is, at bottom, a cooperation problem that symbiotic relationships have solved by gene-motivated behaviors selected f...

I can't. What I can do is have nothing to do with them. If they exploit other people, I can, at minimum, warn other people these are poor cooperators ...

I agree, but the subject of moral positions in terms of answers to “How should I Live”, “What is good?”, and “What are my obligations?” is beyond what...

Thanks for pointing out that my explanations need more details to clarify how I am handling is/ought issues. Assume there is a dispute about when, or ...

I agree, except our convictions can be naive or informed by the accumulated moral wisdom of the ages from moral philosophy. What I am proposing (that ...

Oliver Curry is a prominent advocate of “Morality as Cooperation” and I have sometimes used his phrase. However, the responses here have emphasized th...

The ‘is’ claim about cultural moral norms being cooperation strategies could help me if you were going to throw me off the cliff because one of your c...

Right. But ethics is a much broader subject than cultural moral norms which advocate parts of cooperation strategies. What goals ought we have for our...

Cooperation is a rapidly expanding field, a wonderful topic all on its own, and people can certainly talk about it without mentioning moral norms. But...

When I said "ultimate goal" I was thinking of standard moral goals such as increasing flourishing or reducing suffering.

Thanks for asking! If you did not understand my key point, I expect there are also many others here who did not. I’ll try to clarify "Cultural moral n...

"Cultural moral norms as parts of cooperation strategies" is consistent with cultural moralities being seen as dialects (specific applications) of tho...

Thanks for the welcome! I am glad to be here. My post is a proposal for an approach to establish if a scientific observation about past and present cu...