Grex Oldcoop Conference

Item 287: Stern Philosophical Debunking #1

Entered by scholar on Wed Oct 12 03:39:01 2005:

A while back, gelinas argued that, since everyone would agree to the statement
"Not all text ought to be retained in perpetuity", Grex ought to item authors
to delete their entire items, including responses entered by other users.

I didn't do it at the time, but I feel this argument is one deserving of a
STERN PHILOSPHICAL DEBUNKING.

Here's what I have to say:

gelinas's argument is about as intelligent as the argument made by the police
officer who says "Well, I don't see why all property ought to remain in the
possession of its current owner" when you call him to complain about your
neighbour stealing your daughter's panties off the clothesline.  In both
cases, the argument relies on creating a maxim that is broader than the
specific situation and which everyone can agree with, and then pretending that
that means any specific situation that fits that maxim is moral.  The way in
which these maxims are phrased should be paid close attention to:  They don't
say any situation x that fulfills any maxim y is moral; instead, they say any
situation y that fulfills any malcom x MAY be moral, which isn't really saying
anything at all, since it's possible that an equally valid maxim may exist
saying any situation y that fulfills any maxim y is IMMORAL.  Indeed, it is
hard to imagine ANY maxim z that specifies an immoral act not being bound by
some maxim Z that is true for all the same situations as maxim z yet says all
situations that fulfill maxim z MAY be moral.  Since gelinas's reasoning
apparently applies to ANY maxim that specifies an immoral act, and we know
that SOME maxims that specify immoral acts are correct, we know that gelinas's
reasoning must be WRONG.

qed.
6 responses total.
#1 of 6 by tod on Wed Oct 12 04:57:05 2005:

So you agree that Louis Freeh is a neocon fag then, right?

#2 of 6 by scholar on Wed Oct 12 05:17:50 2005:

Louis Freeh is a neocon fag for any penis x inserted in any o =f his orifices
y.

#3 of 6 by tod on Wed Oct 12 16:30:07 2005:

I'm sick of hearing Louie Freeh-bird on NPR talk about how he had to call GH
Bush to get permission to interrogate Saudi prisoners cuz Clinton
wouldn't/couldn't do it for him.  He's pitching his book and campaigning for
the GOP in the same sentence.  Let's talk about the VCF flop, eh Louie?
They had to shutoff their e-mail this past February cuz they weren't even sure
if VCF ACLs were showing if they'd been hacked.  NICE.

#4 of 6 by scholar on Wed Oct 12 17:49:05 2005:

YEAH< LOUIE

#5 of 6 by naftee on Wed Oct 12 19:36:46 2005:

GreX ought to item its authors.  yessir.

#6 of 6 by jesuit on Wed May 17 02:15:58 2006:

TROGG IS DAVID BLAINE

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