Tuesday, April 19, 2016

The Argument from Intuition

Intuition is a tricky subject. It should be viewed not as a final authority on a philosophical concept, but as a useful barometer. It highlights areas where a concept divorces cultural norms or requires careful, reasoned consideration.

Nonetheless, intuition is powerful in philosophy. When a proposed moral theory achieves absurd results, that theory naturally (and in my opinion correctly) faces heightened scrutiny in that area.

We should expect that an ethical directive to pursue genetic self-interest will cohere with intuition better than almost any other candidate belief.

To the extent that intuition is biologically evolved, it will point in broad strokes to the same conclusion as a a self-interested pro-gene ethics. To the extent that intuition is culturally imparted, demographic dynamics should bias it towards genetic persistence. This is because the modal belief set is likely to be one consistent with memetic or genetic persistence, and in fact is likely consistent with both. A belief set which is inconsistent with persistence of these types is likely to die out, either in figurative memetic terms or in literal genetic ones.

On the other hand, theories which center around happiness, self-fulfillment or other supposed virtues will likely encounter difficulties in tests of intuitive appeal. They may capture important insights, but will continually conflict with human nature and human history.

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