Appendix C: The Logic of the Essentialism Dialectic

Appendix C: The Logic of the Essentialism Dialectic

The Essentialism Dialectic

Thesis: Moral truth (real ought) is created, or voluntarism (70).
Antithesis: There is no (discoverable) (71) moral truth (real ought), because that which is created is not discovered, or nihilism (or skepticism).
Synthesis: Moral truth (real ought) is discovered (71), or essentialism (14, 37).

H: that which satisfies our hunger (57) for true meaning
O: a construct to which we are obligated
T: moral truth
—
M: morality
C: created morality
D: discovered morality

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C1-5: Moral truth is created.
N1-5: There is no moral truth, because if there were, it would be discovered.
D1-5: Moral truth is discovered.
A1-5: All agree (given).

C1: No D is H/T, No H is D, No T is D
N1: All D is H/T, All H is D, All T is H/D
D1: All D is H/T, All H is D, All T is H/D
A1: No D is O, No O is D, All H is T, All T is H, All O is C

C2: All O is H/T, All H is O/C, All T is O/C
N2: No O is H/T, No H is O/C, No T is O/C
D2: No O is H/T, No H is O/C, No T is O/C
A2: All O is C, No O is D, No D is O, All H is T, All T is H

C3: All M is C, No M is D
N3: All M is C, No M is D
D3: Some M is C/D
A3: All HOTCD is M, No C is D, No D is C

C4: Some M is O, Some C is H/O/T
N4: No M is O, No C is H/O/T
D4: No M is O, No C is H/O/T
A4: All HOTCD is M, No C is D, No D is C

C5: Some M is H/T
N5: No M is H/T
D5: Some M is H/T
A5: All HOTCD is M, No C is D, No D is C

Thesis: A1-A4 (given); C1-C5.
Antithesis: N1 (-C1), N2 (-C2), N4 (-C4), N5 (-C5).
Prothesis: A1-A4 (given); N3 (+C3).
Synthesis: A1-A4 (given); D1 (N1, -C1), D2 (N2, -C2), D3 (-N3, -C3), D4 (N4, -C4), D5 (-N5, +C5).

The only place where the thesis and antithesis agree with eachother, but disagree with the synthesis is C3/N3. C3/N3 assumes that the differences between cultures means all morality is created. D3 sees GR (Golden Rule) as basic to all cultures (see Objection 12 in Appendix E).

C5, and A1-A4 (given) don’t sit well with C3/N3 or N5 AND see antithesis, necessitating D3/D5.

This is incorrect:

discovered, none, created
created, discovered, none
none, created, discovered
discovered, created, none
none, discovered, created
created, none, discovered

...because you basically circle back eventually, whichever your starting point (be it ‘discovered’ ‘created’ or ‘none’), but you’re dealing with the same sentences all the time…nothing new…so that makes no sense. The one I’ve come up with (the one we end up with in the list) follows the most logically. You could probably test the sentences in each of the dialectics syllogistically (or something?) for validity, and find that my dialectic is the one left standing, but…I haven’t gotten that far.