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Single Idea 5576

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / b. Fact and value ]

Full Idea

With respect to moral laws, experience is (alas!) the mother of illusion, and it is most reprehensible to derive the laws concerning what I ought to do from what is done, or to want to limit it to that.

Gist of Idea

We cannot derive moral laws from experience, as it is the mother of illusion

Source

Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781], B375/A319)

Book Ref

Kant,Immanuel: 'Critique of Pure Reason', ed/tr. Guyer,P /Wood,A W [CUO 1998], p.398

A Reaction

Kant agrees with Hume, and turns to a non-naturalistic and cognitivist explanation, whereas Hume turns to a non-cognitivist naturalistic one (based on human feelings). Aristotle's view is somewhat based on the experience of human nature.

The 25 ideas with the same theme [distinction between what is and what ought to be]:

4547 Plato measured the degree of reality by the degree of value [Nietzsche on Plato]
4581 Virtues and vices are like secondary qualities in perception, found in observers, not objects [Hume]
4008 Modern science has destroyed the Platonic synthesis of scientific explanation and morality [Hume, by Taylor,C]
8067 The problem of getting to 'ought' from 'is' would also apply in getting to 'owes' or 'needs' [Anscombe on Hume]
4578 You can't move from 'is' to 'ought' without giving some explanation or reason for the deduction [Hume]
5576 We cannot derive moral laws from experience, as it is the mother of illusion [Kant]
22203 Only facts follow from facts [Husserl]
22155 We are disenchanted because we rely on science, which ignores values [Weber, by Boulter]
20748 We do not add value to naked things; its involvement is disclosed in understanding it [Heidegger]
20928 Facts don't oppose values; they are integrated into each person's aspirations [Gadamer, by Zimmermann,J]
23434 There is no fact-value gap in 'owls should see in the dark' [Foot]
22487 Moral arguments are grounded in human facts [Foot]
22377 Whether someone is rude is judged by agreed criteria, so the facts dictate the value [Foot]
22378 We can't affirm a duty without saying why it matters if it is not performed [Foot]
22376 Facts and values are connected if we cannot choose what counts as evidence of rightness [Foot]
22491 Moral evaluations are not separate from facts, but concern particular facts about functioning [Foot]
7624 The word 'inconsiderate' nicely shows the blurring of facts and values [Putnam]
4135 Some ethical ideas, such as 'treachery' and 'promise', seem to express a union of facts and values [Williams,B]
3835 If it is true, you ought to believe it [Searle]
3836 If this is a man, you ought to accept similar things as men [Searle]
8012 The value/fact logical gulf is misleading, because social facts involve values [MacIntyre]
21837 Morality is normative because it identifies best practices among the normal practices [Flanagan]
4937 Systems that generate a sense of value are basic to the primitive brain [Edelman/Tononi]
4770 Nothing is more usual than to apply to external bodies every internal sensation which they occasion [Psillos]
22156 The facts about human health are the measure of the values in our lives [Boulter]