PillPuppetPoet Posted December 13, 2017 Posted December 13, 2017 Hello guys, I am currently reading all of Stefan Molyneux's books, which I ordered for myself in hard copy as a Christmas present. I have been aware of his work for one year, and have become a huge fan of his humane and political understanding as conveyed in his videos, as well as his intellect in general, especially his powers of communication. So far I have read Practical Anarchy, Everyday Anarchy, and his book on UPB. I found the first two fascinating and highly enlightening - I dare say they revolutionized my whole conception of politics - , but I have to admit the book on UPB is extremely alien to my mind. I am currently writing an essay on it, which is quite a long way from finished, but, as I say, the whole theory baffles me (while I am sympathetic to its reformist slants, I strongly disagree with most of its arguments, as you may see) and I have at this moment run into a 'block' when thinking about it, and so I thought I would just post it here in its incomplete state and see what feedback emerges. Thank you very much to anyone who actually reads it, and I hope if you do you will also stop by again later for the completed essay. Here it is: *** 'Universally preferable behaviour', or UPB, is the moral theory of the prominent contemporary philosopher Stefan Molyneux. It sets out to provide an objective, rational foundation for many of our common moral valuations, as well as clarifying them and providing guidance regarding more controversial moral and political issues. In this essay, I attempt to evaluate some of its chief arguments. I shall pass over the introduction, which is mainly concerned with explaining the need for such a foundational moral theory based upon objective reality, which is all quite sound and I do not disagree with, and head straight for the core of the 'proof' for the new theory herein revealed. Stefan's first argument for UPB is that 'if there is no such thing as UPB, then one should oppose anyone who claims that there is such a thing as UPB, However, if one “should” do something, then one has just created universally preferable behaviour.'. He also says 'if I argue against the proposition that UPB is valid, I have already shown my preference for truth over falsehood- as well as a preference for correcting those who speak falsely'. I find this argument highly flawed. Though the latter excerpt is in fact correct, the idea that these preferences are 'universal' is wholly undemonstrated and in fact highly unlikely. Actually, there are many circumstances where one should not argue with one who believes in UPB, or many other doctrines that one believes to be false. If someone has no innate moral compunction and a spiteful, malicious disposition, yet believe that they will go to Hell if they do harm to others, then only a naïve fool would seek to relieve them of this belief. In other words, what Stefan has demonstrated is only that his imagined interlocutor has a preference to point out the truth in this one circumstance, not that everyone 'should' do so 'universally', or that the interlocutor necessarily believes that everyone should do so universally. Stefan's second argument for UPB is that 'everything that lives is subject to certain requirements, and thus, if it is alive, must have followed universally preferred behaviours.' , such as 'breathing, eating and drinking'. This assertion ostensibly has some truth to it, but unfortunately it runs counter to some of Mr. Molyneux's other statements and the intentions of his argument. Firstly, Mr. Molyneux says UPB is not what people 'do' universally prefer, but what they 'should' universally prefer. (pp. 20). Thus the fact that all life forms do prefer certain conditions seems of no obvious relevance to his argument. Secondly, as Mr. Molyneux also says elsewhere in the book, rightly in my opinion, the conditions of life are not always preferred, as the act of suicide demonstrates. The fact that the imaginary interlocutor would have to be alive in order to counter Mr. Molyneux's argument, once again, would not seem to make his preferences 'universal'. Stefan's third argument is since most people believe in UPB, tacitly at least (e.g. by the commonality of their preferences), it is true. This is a false argument, and once again, runs directly counter to what Mr. Molyneux says elsewhere about opinion not altering reality, (in relation to democracy). Secondly, it could be denied that preferences are universal, and not merely very common – especially moral preferences. His forth argument is along the same lines, pointing to the fact that while 'choices are infinite', 'human beings make very similar choices'; therefore 'not all choices can be equal'; 'to say that there are no principles of universally preferable behaviour would be to say that all choices are equal'. This is also quite false: it could simply be that preferences and their justifications are usually quite general but still relative to individual factors rather than being 'universal' to all humankind. It also repeats the same fallacy as the previous argument, in attempting to derive an 'ought' simply from the 'is' of people's actual preferences, assuming them to be based on 'universal' moral values, rather than merely prejudice or some other form of arbitrariness. Stefan's fifth and final argument is similar to his second – he basically says that all life forms, and man in particular as the most successful one, must have evolved by acting on UPB. Forgive me if my critique is beginning to sound a little monotonous, but I can only say that this again repeats the fallacy of trying to derive an 'ought' when his argument only indicates the 'is' of shared human preferences, i.e. not as that there is a universal standard of what human beings should prefer, but simply that man has (purportedly universal) preferences. In addition, it begs the question whether all human beings 'succeeded' through the same morally relevant preferences: for instance, maybe some succeeded by hard work, and others succeeded by exploiting the hard work of others via fraud, such as religion? Summing up this section, I would have to say that Mr. Molyneux has been far from convincing in his demonstration of the existence of UPB. However, one of the real Achilles' heels of his theory, at least in the view of this reader, is introduced in a subsequent section. This is in his bold and uncompromising insistence on its 'universal' aspect, whereby, according to Mr. Molyneux, the moral rules governing the relations of human beings are as uniform as gravity upon falling rocks. But, equally, wouldn't a geologist be laughed at for insisting that all 'rocks', from chalk to diamond, had exactly the same propensity and pace of erosion? While I would agree that the theory should be stated in such terms that moral guidelines exist for all human beings, the notion that there are no distinctions among human beings that might have a bearing upon the morality or rationality of their actions seems to me an evident absurdity, which is confirmed elsewhere by Mr. Molyneux's own statements that someone with an IQ of 65, or a small child, cannot be held responsible for their actions to the same degree as a cultivated and intelligent adult. As we shall see, Mr. Molyneux's insistence on this point, together with what he calls 'logical consistency' are the errors which turn out, unfortunately, to be the faulty notions with which he builds much of his structure. To get an understanding of how Stefan intends his theory, it is necessary to turn to the way he applies it to: rape, murder, theft, etc. His first strategy is a reductio ad absurdum, whereby he assumes that rape is morally good. He claims that this is illogical, since a rape can only occur if the victim resists, and that thus 'attacking virtue by definition enables virtue', and this is an 'insurmountable paradox'. But is it? By the same logic, one could say that fighting evil in general cannot be virtuous since it is only enabled by the evil which one is fighting. So far from being an 'insurmountable paradox', I would say this is par for the course when it comes to moral behaviour, which is always 'enabled' by its opposite or the threat thereof. Mr. Molyneux's next argument is almost equally puzzling. He says 'if only one of (the two men in a room) can be good... we have a logical contradiction that cannot be solved', referring us to the aforementioned example that 'a valid theory cannot predict that one rock will fall up, while another rock will fall down'. But, why should both men even have the capacity to be good at the same time, let alone actually be good at the same time? What is there in the notion of morality, or universal preference, that means it necessarily cannot be mutually exclusive, competitive or relative? We wouldn't say they could both excel equally at winning a chess match with each other at the same time, so why should they both be able to necessarily excel at morality? Again, by the same logic, it cannot be virtuous for one of two men in a room to give CPR to a dying child, because then the other one couldn't do it. It would thus be equally or more moral to simply let the child suffocate to death. Mr. Molyneux's third argument is perhaps the most eye-brow raising of the lot, wherein he says that 'because he will be physically unable to get an erection.... his ability to perform the “good action” becomes impossible'. Surely this could just be obviated by describing the principle as 'he who has raped is good', rather than 'he who is raping is good'. This 'logical problem' would also obviously apply to any moral code that defined actions themselves as solely constitutive of virtue, rather then also having done them. So: a fat man giving food to a starving person could also not be defined as remotely virtuous, because at some point he will not be starving, (or, there will be an absence of starving people to feed), and he won't be able to feed them, and hence he is 'unable to be good'. A much better and much simpler argument would seem to be that it is not universally preferable because not everyone wants to do it - and even fewer victims 'prefer' it to happen to them, nor 'should' they as it will not be conducive to their happiness (the true 'universal preference', in my opinion) or anyone else's. Why Stefan doesn't mention this, and instead sticks to his strictly 'logical' approach all but defies explanation. Moving onto Stefan's discussion of rape as a possible APA (aesthetically positive actions), according to his definition of being universally preferable but not enforceable through violence, it might seem he is correct in saying that rape cannot be an APA, as it is enforced through violence. However, even here, there is a conflation regarding who the enforcement is enacted on. In the case of rape, the enforcement is on the victim, whereas in the case of UPB, presumably the enforcement is upon the potential perpetrator – therefore, one cannot necessarily say the rape is not an APA. Again, the argument that it is simply not in any way preferable for many people would have seemed more sensible. Here Mr. Molyneux also gives 'being on time' as an example of a genuine APA, which is a 'universally preferable' rule that can be 'totally avoided'. However, if I have a business meeting, and my boss turns up an hour late with no prior warning that he is a tardy individual, could that really have been avoided ? If one knows someone has a habit of turning up late, then one can avoid them – although if they were your boss if would probably mean getting a new job - but the first time it happens ? If 'avoid-ability' was such a strong determinate of whether something is morally imperative or merely aesthetically preferable, as Mr. Molyneux says it is, then in fact it would seem that 'being late without warning' was no better than rape. Mr. Molyneux then asks whether 'liking jazz' or 'liking classical music' can be a APA, saying that if so its maxim would be 'subjective preferences are universally preferable.' However, surely there could be other, better justifications than the fact that it is merely a' subjective preference', which is really assuming what one sets out to prove. For instance, could one not make the Nietzschean-esque argument that 'liking classical music' is inherently better for one, and a sign of a more developed sensibility, than liking jazz or pop? In other words, the correct formulation is not “subjective preferences are universally preferable', but 'healthy or refined preferences are universally preferable'. If that is not 'universal' enough for Mr. Molyneux, I can only stress again that the concern for 'universality' is a basically arbitrary bugbear that distorts the whole theory and is far from 'logical', just as it is not 'logical' to say that all rocks have the same erosive properties. 'Universality', it seems to me, is a relative and imprecise definition – if one was being strict about it, one wouldn't be able to say anything at all, except perhaps something like 'Existence exists'. The aim of philosophy, and science in general, is chiefly not to make fewer distinctions, but more relevant distinctions. Thus again, in the discussion as to whether rape is a 'personally positive' preference, Stefan opines that that maxim would be 'personal preferences must be violently inflicted upon other people', and that one could not propose 'personal preferences may be violently inflicted upon other people' since that is not universal enough. But why? As far as I can see, all Mr. Molyneux has given us in support of his preference for 'universality' is the analogy with all rocks falling down due to gravity, which is hardly a water-tight argument, as I have explained. And who is to say that 'may be violently inflicted' is not universal enough? Mr. Molyneux says that if they are not completely absolute and universal, they 'fall into APA territory, and so cannot be inflicted on others.' However, are not APAs also supposed to be a type of 'universal (italics added) preferences' ? Again, by Stefan's logic, what would be the place for physical combat sports like wrestling and boxing? If 'personal preferences may be violently inflicted upon others' is not valid, doesn't that mean such sports are not in the personal preferences category, but either in the morally good or evil? That would seem rather bizarre. (perhaps this issue results partly from the aforesaid conflation of the actions being enforceable on the actor/perpetrator as a result of their behaviour, which admittedly, is one mark of a 'moral' imperative, and on the acted-upon/victim, as part of the initial behaviour itself, which admittedly is generally immoral and violates the NAP, but is an entirely different issue.) In his 'Seven Categories', has not Mr. Molyneux simply built 'non-violence' into his definition of aesthetically positive and personally positive, assuming the violence can only ever be justified in response to immoral behaviour, without justifying this rationally? In other words, has he not tied violence, under the guise and excuse of scientific universality, to enforcement of the 'good' and UPB? He then eliminates rape from 'the good' (illogically, I have argued), and then from APA and personal preference on the basis of his fundamentally arbitrary definitions, which assume what he should be attempting to prove. Going back to his discussion of the NAP where perhaps he supposes to have proved this, we see here his only argument is that a theory must be universal, or, to quote, 'rocks fall down'. This seems to be a very weak argument. It is exactly like ignoring penguins and ostriches ans insisting 'All birds can fly' is more correct and 'scientific' than 'Some birds can fly' because of its greater universality. One cannot simply assume there are no morally relevant distinctions to be made between different instances of initiating force. And afterall, if the more universal a theory is the better, how is one even justified in bringing in the word 'initiation'? Wouldn't it be more universal, and thus, according Mr. Molyneux, more 'rationally consistent', simply to say 'it is universally preferable not to use force at all'? As I said, this insistence on universality is fundamentally arbitrary and results in assuming what needs to be proved. Stefan argues that rape cannot be a personally negative action (PNA) since in that case the victim couldn't justify using force to resist, whereas the rapist would supposedly be justified in using force to carry out the assault. It would seem that this argument is not water-tight either, firstly because resisting attack and initiating are not strictly identical, especially in all circumstances, so there is no reason in theory to subsume them under the same maxim, regardless of what Mr. Molyneux claims about 'universality', and, secondly, the notion that PNAs can never be enforced by violence is, as has already been argued, simply assumed rather than proven. Stefan argues that rape cannot be an aesthetically negative action (ANA) because they cannot be enforced by violence. Again there is a conflation between 'enforced' on the victim and perpetrator. He also says that 'being late' would be an ANA because it is avoidable, but, as I have argued, it isn't always. It would seem more a question of the intimacy and invasiveness of the crime, together with the traumatic emotions it tends to provoke, rather than its 'avoidability', that is at issue. To be continued...
PillPuppetPoet Posted December 16, 2017 Author Posted December 16, 2017 Stefan argues that 'rape' fits the criteria of evil, because it involves the initiation of the use of force, it isn't logically contradictory to classify it as such, its avoidable, and it doesn't fit into any of the other categories. He argues here that if the maxim was 'it is moral to take one's pleasure, regardless of the displeasure of others', that would be logically inconsistent because, in that case, it would be moral to enforce two contradictory behaviours, such as rape and the resistance to rape. I grant that this would indeed be contradictory based on Mr. Molyneux's definition of 'moral' behaviour. However, I have argued that Mr. Molyneux has failed to prove rape could not fall into one of the previous categories. Furthermore, he has still nowhere proven that there is such a thing as moral behaviour or UPB that ought to be enforced. Nor has he proven that the initiation of force is always evil to any mildly sceptical enquirer, - he has basically just assumed it - as I have already explained. Actually, it seems that 'universally preferable behaviour' is a highly misleading term, because Mr. Molyneux means by it not what is really universally preferable, but what people 'ought' to prefer, (despite his arguments for it only supporting the former, as I have already shown). This 'ought' is totally abstracted from any context that might give it meaning, and is not rationally binding except in Mr. Molyneux's own twisted logical realms. In truth, universal humanity is not an organic whole - it has no reason of its own - only the reason of its individual members. Thus, if one is going to find universal values, real 'universally preferable behaviour', a universal 'ought' or Good that holds true for all mankind, one will have to do it by examining each individual's own Good, and finding what they all have in common. That universal goal common to all mankind, as Aristotle argued, is happiness or eudaimonia. However, what constitutes happiness for one human being may mean dire misery for another. Unfortunately, there are never going to be any logical manoeuvrers one can do, no matter how acrobatic, that can prove there are rationally binding rules for human interaction whereby each subjugate one's own happiness, in whatever degree, to the happiness of others. Thus, while the proposition 'it is moral (rational) to take one's own pleasure, regardless of the displeasure of others', is impossible to enforce multi-laterally, as Mr. Molyneux pointed out, the problem is, Mr. Molyneux has not proven that it is rational to enforce (or how it would be done) or follow any moral rule, any rule that abstracts from the primacy of one's own personal experience in view of a consideration of how it impacts upon all human beings, particularly if one can enforce one's own personal pleasure. Despite all his pretensions to scientific rationality, Mr. Molyneux's adoption of a 'God's-eye' perspective in an attempt to define rationally binding preferences which exclude the initiation of violence abstracts from the most central feature and presupposition of reality itself, the Ego or individual consciousness. In my opinion, without facing this central thorn head on, one is condemned to mere sophistic trickery and willful delusion, with little or no hope for alleviating its repugnant consequences in our own lives or those of our species as a whole. It is not when we trick ourselves and each other into believing in illusory moral/legal absolutes, but when we learn to see both the whole in ourselves, and ourselves in the whole, that true charity begins. Anybody who is so desperate to prove human decency that they would fall for this type of reasoning is almost certainly an already fundamentally decent person, but it takes a different kind of moral discipline, based not in abstract logical procedures but the kind of empathetic expansiveness of spirit that Mr. Molyneux at times can be so adept at, to really bring such a noble personality type to ripeness. I personally wish there was less of the 'logician' and more of that latter side of his character - the empath - in this particular book. To be continued...
PillPuppetPoet Posted December 22, 2017 Author Posted December 22, 2017 As I see it, there remains an even more central flaw in Mr. Molyneux's theory. That is, his very definition of 'the good' is circular. He defines the morally good, the 'ought; by 'universally preferable and enforceable through violence'; but he also defines 'universally preferable' by 'that which universally ought to be preferred', as well as defining 'enforceable' by 'what ought to be enforced'. Thus, all he is doing here is making the questionable and undemonstrated assertion that moral rules must be universal to all human beings, but nowhere does he define what he means by 'ought', nor does he demonstrate it to be rationally binding, or even rationally significant. In fact, it seems the way he is using it is not in terms of the rational 'ought', as in, 'If I want X, I ought to do such and such in order to obtain it', but merely as a form of sanctimonious moral exhortation. Unless Mr. Molyneux can clearly express what he means by this 'ought' in a way that identifies some objective facts, it must be assumed that he is simply making the category error of conflating facts and injunctions abstracted from the individual souls which either make those injunctions or give them some validity. In other words, it might sound good to be able to 'prove' that one 'ought not to rape, murder, steal, etc' in the abstract, and be a little chastening to some who are easily impressed by such things, but since the 'ought' here is not defined in terms of anything actually existing in reality, or anything else that seems to warrant any rational consideration whatever, it appears to be nothing more than Mr. Molyneux's own somewhat imposing personal injunction passed off as existing 'in reality' itself, when the only 'injunctions' that reality gives, at least that I'm aware of, are our own impulses, which Mr. Molyneux should take as his premise in the demonstration, but instead ignores in favour of proving 'logical contradictions' (which turn out not to be contradictions at all) in the acts under question. In the section on rape, Mr. Molyneux argued that rape couldn't be morally neutral because it was enforced by violence; however, Mr. Molyneux merely assumed that force was objectively immoral if not used to enforce 'the good'. Admittedly, if we grant him this one assumption, he may be able to hoodwink us into quite a lot, but in reality my wager is that he will never be able to prove that anything is objectively immoral or moral, in a rationally binding and non-trivial sense (as well as its rationally binding sense, 'immoral' and other value-laden words also have a factual sense of 'that which is generally considered immoral' – but that does not give rational legitimacy to the general view, it merely multiples and complicates the definitions of the words), except that which is detrimental or conducive to our own happiness – since that is the true rational basis or refutation of our preferences. If Mr. Molyneux believes that reality gives other kinds of injunctions of its own, surely he should explain how it does so and what their nature is before he attempts to define what they order us to do and not do, in the same way that if we were wise we would want to know what a legal code is and how or whether it is enforced before we moved onto learning specific laws that we were expected to obey and how they came into operation. To be continued...
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