Mimus Pulls Himself Up By His Bootstraps

Kinda like this:

In a comment to my last post A-Mat subjectivist Mimus demonstrates how he would argue to a Saudi that executing homosexuals is wrong.

I would argue that moral codes should balance the freedom of individuals to pursue happiness and thrive in their own lives with the detrimental effects of selfish or antisocial behavior. That leaves no grounds for discrimination against gay people at all, let alone their murder.

The problem with Mimus’ argument is that it is based on an equivocation.  Let’s see how.

Mimus’ argument boils down to this:

Major premise:  Killing someone for no reason other than that they are pursuing happiness and thriving in their own lives is evil.

Minor premise:  Homosexuals are pursuing happiness and thriving in their own lives.

Conclusion:  Therefore, killing homosexuals is evil.

The argument’s conclusion certainly follows from its premises.  So, what is wrong with it?

The problem with the argument is that as a materialist, when Mimus uses the word “evil” he cannot mean “evil” in any objective sense of that word which the Saudi is bound to recognize.  He can only mean “that which, though I have no free will, evolutionary processes have determined I do not prefer.”  When Mimus’ equivocation is exposed, his real argument comes to fore:

Major premise:  Killing someone for no reason other than that they are pursuing happiness and thriving in their own lives is something which, though I have no free will, evolutionary processes have determined I not prefer.

Minor premise:  Homosexuals are pursuing happiness and thriving in their own lives.

Conclusion:  Therefore, killing homosexuals is something which, though I have no free will, evolutionary processes have determined I not prefer.

To which the Saudi would understandably object, why should I care what evolutionary processes have determined that you not prefer?

All materialist moral arguments – without exception – are based on an identical equivocation.  And when the equivocation is exposed, it is always revealed that the materialist is trying to pull himself up by his bootstraps.

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