Geoffrey MillerVerified account

But what's the common meaning (assuming we actually do need a common meaning rather than framework or OS)? It's something we will need to invent, commit, and recommit to, and thus existentialist in nature. It can't be revealed or discovered like a mountain or lake.https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/979435400446947328 …

I'm writing an entire book on this right now ;) -- and I generally disagree with the critique of both Greek teleology and Biblical revelation (hence the funny hat).

Why does everyone confuse existentialism (people who can't believe in supernatural deontologies consciously constructing new value-systems) with nihilism (rejecting all value-systems if they can't claim a universal deontological basis)? Oh I think I just answered my question.

I totally disagree. Utilitarians try to reduce suffering and promote well-being, without believing in supernatural ethics. You don't have to believe ethics are written in the stars, you only have to believe sentience evolved in nervous systems, and that it matters.

If you're talking about something like a taxonomy of being, and sentience is a category, why can't it imply a morality?