From: [email protected] (Robert ASF.) NG cut On Thu, 05 Jul Phil Roberts, Jr.wrote: snip >Rather than assuming that 'being rational' (in valuative/strategic/practical >affairs) is a matter of 'being efficient' (means/end theory) or of >'maximizing self-interest' (egoism), abandon the self-interest assumption >and simply assume that 'being rational' is simply a matter of 'being able >to "see" what is going on' or 'being objective'. If such were the case, >then you could justify a valuative version of the imperative, i.e., 'Love >your neighbor as you love yourself' by bringing the mountain to Mohammed >so to speak, in that 'being rational' would be equivalent to 'being >valuatively objective'. Your redefinition is at best an empircial version of Kant's CI and at worst mere altering the words without altering the content. >The justification for the "theory" of rationality I am proposing here >would simply lie in its superior epistemic credentials, not only in its >greater freedom from contradiction, but also in terms of its ability to >"explain" several evolutioanry anomalies (the presence of morality and >emotional instability in homo sapiens). You are going to have to fless this out a lot more for it to be anymore then mere supposition. Just Thought I Should Mention It