I don't feel like the questions I asked in my last paragraph were answered. Can you define good and bad in a way that matches humans' usage? I am generally interested in ethical and moral theory and I always like hearing other people's takes on it.
You are correct that my example of believing I'm smug is a belief ABOUT feelings, but it is false to claim that it is not ALSO a belief based on a feeling.
You are right that feelings aren't rational, but neither is sensation. There is no reasoning behind Pleasure or pain or taste or temperature. Those sensations come from outside our mind and outside our reasoning organs. They aren't reasonable.
And yet most of our beliefs are based on sensation. The basis for a belief does not have to be made out of rationality in order for the belief itself to be rational. Feelings and sensations aren't rational, but they can be the basis of rational beliefs. Not only are feelings often a sufficient basis to determine what is good and bad, I contend that feelings are a necessary basis to determine what is good and bad. When you look at how people use the words "good" and "bad", people always base their judgements on a foundation of thought experiments and their feelings about those thought experiments.
Culture can't affect objective people, which is why my definition of objective good and bad is based on someone exposed to all relevant perspective, not just the perspectives of one particular culture.
Scoundrel
npub14p…kxw3v
2026-07-08 00:33:01 UTC
in reply to nevent1q…xvdr
Author Public Key
npub14pa5q2kqs8ygfxuat02w88ezsle9wzwnu0meu7z2785t8rl0hhcspkxw3vPublished at
2026-07-08 00:33:01 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "I don't feel like the questions I asked in my last paragraph were answered. Can you define good and bad in a way that matches humans' usage? I am generally interested in ethical and moral theory and I always like hearing other people's takes on it.\n\nYou are correct that my example of believing I'm smug is a belief ABOUT feelings, but it is false to claim that it is not ALSO a belief based on a feeling.\n\nYou are right that feelings aren't rational, but neither is sensation. There is no reasoning behind Pleasure or pain or taste or temperature. Those sensations come from outside our mind and outside our reasoning organs. They aren't reasonable.\n\nAnd yet most of our beliefs are based on sensation. The basis for a belief does not have to be made out of rationality in order for the belief itself to be rational. Feelings and sensations aren't rational, but they can be the basis of rational beliefs. Not only are feelings often a sufficient basis to determine what is good and bad, I contend that feelings are a necessary basis to determine what is good and bad. When you look at how people use the words \"good\" and \"bad\", people always base their judgements on a foundation of thought experiments and their feelings about those thought experiments.\n\nCulture can't affect objective people, which is why my definition of objective good and bad is based on someone exposed to all relevant perspective, not just the perspectives of one particular culture.",
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