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No. 251
I don't believe that the gulf between "is" and "ought" cannot possibly be bridged.

In fact, this is a myth. There is a distinction between the two but it is only rough and ready.

Whenever we make a claim about what "is" the case, we are also making a claim about what "ought" to be, and vice-versa.

If I say, "You should help old people cross the street," I am really saying, "It is the case that you should help old people cross the street."

And if I say, "Water boils at 100 degrees celsius," I am also implicitly saying, "All rational people who are interested in the truth ought to believe that water boils at 100 degrees celsius."
>> No. 253
No.

"Is-ought" statements are illogical. The proper format for an "ought" statement is "is-ought-if".

An example of an is-ought statement is, "A just and kind God exists, therefore, His instructions ought to be followed."

The course of action does not follow from the assertion; the statement is incomplete, because it must contain a qualifier; an 'if'. In this case, it would be, "... if you respect justice and want to do kind things."

The statement thus becomes, in lieu of a recogniseably moral statement, a pragmatic one.

To highlight the point, if we replace the meaning in the statement with nonsense but retain the same structure:

"Bananas exist and you have an anus, therefore you ought to insert the banana up your rectum."

"... If you enjoy inserting bananas up your rectum."

You can see that a statement is only regarded as a moral statement if it is both illogical and contextually recogniseable as being a moral issue. The is-ought problem is thus particularly relevant to moral quandries.


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