Inmendham’s Alphabet Of Evaluational Transgressions

[Update 2017-04-30: There are a few things in this post I no longer endorse. Some of the issues I'm spotting on this latest reread are stylistic. Others are plainly substantive, like my treatment of emotional suffering as categorically distinct from physical suffering, such that physical suffering always wins first rank in the moral prioritization realm. In 2013 and early 2014, I really did mean always whenever I wrote "always". This is subject to numerous reductio ad absurdum based counters, which are so obvious one shouldn't feel the need to single one out. Oddly enough, my attempts to free welfarist theories from all such reductios were precisely what motivated the emotional/physical categorization in the first place. I now accept that there is no avoiding of reductios, at least not in moral philosophy. I might be nitpicking, but that's just how it rolls with me. For updated criticisms of all things Inmendham, see this blog's post-2013 posts. I'm only keeping this post up because I (largely) share Inmendham's belief that wiping out content that was once available for public consumption is intellectually uncouth. As such, let the record stand.]

This will be an overdue continuation of the squabble from earlier this year between the discrete value economics promoted by Inmendham et al versus what I'll coin here as 'Freelance Ethics'. The last time I made an effort to cover some of this, I received a juicy dead-end for my troubles. Hopefully the itemized structure of this post will assist me in communicating rebuttals in a more lucid manner compared to the bloated posts from seven months ago.

Additionally, let this serve as a manifesto highlighting other areas where seeing eye to eye with Inmendham is managed only by paying no mind to internal consistency, while offering my own heterodox theories on a shiny platter for readers to adopt and/or scrutinize. One thing motivating me here is Inmendham’s ongoing challenge to have someone (anyone) present a cogent counterargument to any of his stated beliefs. He’s been griping about his inability to get a properly structured, well-organized debate format off the ground due to a lack of interest. This is true. No critic is ardent enough to put in the necessary time/effort to undermine Inmendham’s formulation of Intrinsic Value in a way that might resonate with him, so I’ll jump in and be an accommodating host by alphabetizing the entire ordeal. Each contentious issue gets its own letter. By assigning letters to individual points which are bound to continue causing friction, no item of contention will be swept under the rug. Inmendham can easily reference each section of our now abecedarian dispute outlined below (assuming he wishes to argue further, which I’m sure he will). Oh the excitement.

Note: Jump-links for the below are pending due to ongoing formatting issues

 

The Contents:

Inmendham Glossary (beginners only)

Preamble 

A. Establishing Premises

B. Central tensions between 'Justice Maximization' and 'Harm Minimization' 

C. "Sentience creates value" 

D. "That’s just your psychology"  

E. The Orphanage Proposal 

F. Extinction: The Pseudo-Goal 

G. Assisted Suicide vs. Unsolicited Mercy Killings

H. 'The Golden Rule' Is Awfully Rusty

I. "They can’t handle the truth”

J. "Why don't people lament the absence of life on other planets?"

K. “Zero-Sum Game” as a Post-Natal Proposition

L. “You can’t win” vs. Crude Literalism

M. 'Moral Nihilism' and 'Defeatism' are disjointed 

N. Non-Rational =/= Irrational

O. Non-impositions?  

P. Approved Impositions

Q. AntiNatalism and Atheism are not ideological cousins

R. Hedonism

S. Tactical Insults vs. Knee-Jerk Insults

T. Open Hostility Towards Doubt

U. Unquenchable Reinforcement Of Belief (including $1000 challenge) 

V. Style, Substance, and VloggerDome 

Summation