{"id":3476,"date":"2012-06-11T12:11:52","date_gmt":"2012-06-11T16:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=3476"},"modified":"2013-01-16T01:08:07","modified_gmt":"2013-01-16T06:08:07","slug":"its-teleology-all-the-way-down-blogathon-412","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/06\/its-teleology-all-the-way-down-blogathon-412.html","title":{"rendered":"It’s Teleology All the Way Down (Blogathon 4\/12)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This post is number four of twelve for the Secular Student Alliance Blogathon. \u00a0I\u2019m responding to comments in the \u201cGo Ahead, Tell Me What\u2019s Wrong with Homosexuality<\/a>\u201d thread all day. \u00a0You can read an explanation of the Blogathon and a pitch for donations (even if you\u2019re religious) here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And now to disagree with someone who\u2019s technically on my side (kind of). Smrda wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I find utilitarian ethics perfectly satisfying \u2013 if an action doesn\u2019t produce a victim, then it isn\u2019t wrong. If a relationship makes people happy and nobody is being oppressed, go for it.<\/p>\n

Your idea of taking a \u2018disinterested point of view\u2019 and seeing what in accordance with flourishing is no such thing \u2013 you are clearly invested in a particular perspective and its assumptions about what \u2018flourishing\u2019 entails are shaping how you perceive human relationships.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Previously, commenters have accused every moral system being utilitarianism in disguise<\/a>, with varying definitions of the utils we\u2019re trying to maximize. \u00a0I\u2019d like to turn the tables on Smrda. \u00a0If you think people can be mistaken about what makes them happy, or that they can substitute a lower pleasure for a higher one, then you can\u2019t accept \u201chappy people not oppressing others\u201d as the best goal.<\/p>\n

Trying to figure what will make people happy is at least as hard as figuring out what will make them flourish, and it\u2019s a lot less fortified against questions about duties to ourselves and obligations against self harm.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is number four of twelve for the Secular Student Alliance Blogathon. \u00a0I\u2019m responding to comments in the \u201cGo Ahead, Tell Me What\u2019s Wrong with Homosexuality\u201d thread all day. \u00a0You can read an explanation of the Blogathon and a pitch for donations (even if you\u2019re religious) here. And now to disagree with someone who\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[171,147],"class_list":["post-3476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epistemologyphilosophy","tag-blogathon","tag-whence-moral-law"],"yoast_head":"\nIt's Teleology All the Way Down (Blogathon 4\/12)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This post is number four of twelve for the Secular Student Alliance Blogathon. \u00a0I'm responding to comments in the "Go Ahead, Tell Me What's Wrong with\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/06\/its-teleology-all-the-way-down-blogathon-412.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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