This is a little essay I did concerning the idea that values are natural features of the world! Just looking to promote some interesting discussion!
Values in Nature
Mackie’s question regarding values as features of the world, like natural features, is a meaningful question. Man initiates values from within given to them by nature, which is then applied to the world. What we consider to be true contributes to human good over the longest course of time. Humans are obligated to the pragmatic process to sustain values through everyday induction. It is therefore meaningful to talk about undetectable objects and properties.
Values are very much features of the world. One uses values in everyday practical reasoning. Values are created when a rational person witnesses an event, communicates with others, internalizes such events, and reflects upon them by putting oneself into the shoes of the negative outcome. From that, a value is created based on self preservation. Values are created after a collection of inductive experiences. Mackie theorizes:
Although logical positivism with its verifiably theory of descriptive meaning gave an impetus to non-cognitive accounts of ethics, it is not only logical positivists but also empiricists of a much more liberal sort who should find objective values hard to accommodate. Indeed, I would not only reject the verifiability principle but also deny the conclusion commonly drawn from it, that moral judgments lack descriptive meaning. The assertion that there are objective values intrinsically prescriptive entities or features of some kind, which ordinary moral judgments presuppose, is, I hold, not meaningless but false. (Mackie 112)
These experiences are then applied to the world in such a way that ensures sustenance; becoming a “feature” of the world in a most profound way whereby values can be considered as natural features. Considering this information, it suggests that the pragmatic test is true nor false, it merely has meaning.
Values are simply old truths that grow into new ones. If we deny our own thoughts, if we do not have the will or desire to pursue meaning, then we fail to achieve any meaning of truth in the first place. Those contributions we accept to be true do the most human good over the longest course of time. It has been widely suggested by Menand that pragmatism took form long ago in the works of Charles Darwin, where evolution was deemed an ongoing process . Today we hold Darwin’s theory of evolution to have some practical meaning. If we create a reality where pragmatism holds true then it is meaningful. “Pragmatism is melioristic” (The belief that improvement of society depends on human effort.)
Humans are geared to continued tasks of trial and error in order to sustain human values as features of the world. Thomas Kuhn presents his "Structure of Scientific Revolution" which has practical application in the study of epistemology. When applied to epistemology the theory suggests that there are steps in the development of truth. The first step is known in science as the "pre-paradigm" period. In the case of values this is a period in human thought where we have not yet developed a specific value. Once someone has discovered this value it becomes tested in the period known as "normal science". In this period values are applied to everyday life, and philosophers draw consensus with each other about whether the value is true. The next stage of "anomaly" determines that the value has proven to be invalid under a certain circumstance. "Crisis" occurs when there is a consensus among philosophers that the old paradigm (or value) no longer applies. A "crisis" may be solved within the old paradigm and return to "normal science". Sometimes it is realized that a new paradigm cannot be accomplished due to a lack of necessary tools, and is left for future generations to solve. In terms of values, philosophers would wait for a new method of thinking to come along. Eventually, a new paradigm (in this case a value) may be established and the problem is then solved. The process then returns to "normal science" to continue the process of validating the proof through induction. (Kuhn 23-34) The "Structure of Scientific Revolution" derives and or reforms a value that becomes or is redefined as a feature of the world. Similarly the "Structure of Scientific Revolution' is a pragmatic test that encourages a process of ongoing inquiry and transformation of knowledge and truth.
It is important that we talk about undetectable features in nature since they apply in the real world and affect us. If we do not consider undetectable objects or properties, we would have to deny our own thought and senses. We would therefore be left without any understanding of truth. There is value and worth in the pragmatic theory making it meaningful. The pragmatic theory allows us to test undetectable objects or properties in the real world. If the pragmatic method was invalid our society would be devoid of many things. There would be an absence of law, science, religion and politics. All of these institutions are dependant on values and as values evolve so do these inventions of civilization.
The idea the values occur as features in the natural world passes the pragmatic test in most respects. The only problem with values being features of the world is that we cannot empirically prove that they exist. The thought that values exist as features of the world pass in the sense that they posses many of the characteristics of empirical proofs. Values have real world application which is part of the criteria for useful truths. Values also tend to do the most human good when they are proven to be true for a long period of time. We are encouraged by discussion to believe that Mackie's question is both meaningful and significant.
Although Mackie has concluded his own question to be false, we can resolve through the pragmatic test that the question regarding values as features of the world has meaning. We have discovered that even though values are not objective or universal, they play an extremely important role in all aspects of society, and primarily the individual. This is grounds enough to accept values as entities that cannot be dismissed. Throughout the essay we learned that values are simply old truths that grow into new ones, and as humans we are geared to continued tasks of trial and error. The "Structure of Scientific Revolution reveals how values are created and can be proven like an empirical scientific theory or formula. Kuhn's theory serves to support the pragmatic test, as well as things we readily consider credible in the physical sense. If we are to reject undetectable objects or properties, we would then have to reject the credibility of empirical proof; this then leaves us to question our reality.
and if you have no idea what I’m talking about please respond and be as evil as you want!