Review
People in power will use the language of morality to legitimize their demands. That alone does not prove that morality is merely the demands of the people in power. Especially considering that from some people's perspective, resisting bad demands is a part of morality.
Hi Viliam,
Thanks for your response! I’m going to reveal a few trap cards (Yu-Gi-Oh ref! Hope we can keep playing): Strawman and Circular Reasoning!
Strawman: People not in power “resisting bad demands” has nothing to do with my argument, which is that morality is irrational because it’s “derived from personal emotions (on either extremes), and influence from social circles.”
Circular Reasoning: You’re also concluding that due to the “validity of some people not in power” “resisting bad demands,” morality is not merely the demands of those in power.
I’ve concluded that the “Is-ought” correlation (not the philosophical problem) is fraught after my kerfuffle with how one moves from is-ness to ought-ness. Ought is derived from personal emotions (on either extremes), and influence from social circles.
The seemingly real pressure one feels from ought isn’t an offspring of “is-ness” but rather psychological framings on the natural environment passed down from those that have been in power (everything).
Morality is not the mark, nay! The insidious beast here is culture!
Culture is a set of rules and regulations that serves institutions by depriving people of their innate way of being by saying, “here you do this now”.
Life demands with no malice, critically evaluate societal norms i.e., “Why do I eat this food? Why do I hate these people? Why do I feel this way about recycling?”. And keep in mind that iteration requires flexibility; adhering too strongly to one’s moral reasoning hinders rather than builds.
So in a real-world context: how can we speak on KPI’s not being hit? The answer is direct human communication within high trust settings and rigorous language. As well as modifying our vernacular, i.e. uncoupling {right and wrong from “spot on” and “off target”} and {good and bad from “quality” and “poor-quality”}.