The bounden search for certainty ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ The existential frame of humanity — HR formula ─────────────────────────────────── - HR comprises H and R. H. Humanity extant through all actual and reasonable ends. - For any actual and reasonable end E that would obtain at time tE, humanity continues to exist through tE. : re `actual` see `^^H must address ends that are actual$` @ `^^ Notes?$` R. Full exercise by humankind of its capacity for rational action. - Here ‘full’ means the maximum that realistically we could sustain at a given time. - Here ‘humankind’ means the bearers of humanity (our rational nature). / If our rational nature in the course of its future development could be borne by beings we would not classify as human, then R extends to those beings, too. collapsible end - One of H or R. standing end - An actual and reasonable end that is not a collapsible end. actual end - An end that is willed. ──────────────────── ends justification ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈ / Showing whether an end is reasonable. - An end is reasonable that is morally imperative. - An end is reasonable that: a) is not morally wrong : see ../right_and_wrong.brec b) is realistic : see `^^realistic ends$` c) is not excluded by its relation to other ends, and : see `^^interrelated ends$` d) is justifiably wanted. : see `^^justifiably wanted ends$` - Justification proceeds in milieux where lines of thought, claims and rebuttals are defeasible through public exposure. realistic ends - An end is realistic only if it would obtain within the bounds of humanity. / What would obtain outside the bounds of humanity can be an effect (whether natural or supernatural) of a realistic end, but it cannot be a realistic end in itself. - To expect its attainment with no witness to the fact would be unrealistic. interrelated ends - Where the justifiability of an end relates to the presence of another end, the whole network of interrelated ends is considered over all its combinations. - One combination at most is chosen. - Its ends alone are reasonable. justifiably wanted ends - An end is justifiably wanted that is a condition of a further end, itself reasonable and unachieved. - An end is justifiably wanted that we have reason value for its own sake. : see `^^evaluation of ends as such$` evaluation of ends as such / Showing whether an end has value in its own right, regardless of whether it conditions a further end. - Evaluation is based on principles. - The evaluative principles are moral and proper to a normative ethic. - The present ethic defines no evaluative principles. ━━━━━━━━━ Warrant ─ an argument for pursuing HR on the ground of prior duty ───────── H is apodictic ∵ Humanity extant is already a necessary condition of any reasonable end. ∵ A reasonable end is necessarily realistic. : see `is realistic` @ `^^- An end is reasonable that:$` ∵ To be realistic requires that the end would obtain within the bounds of humanity. : re `To be realistic.+(obtain.+humanity)` see `${same}` @ `^^realistic ends$` : N.B. `^^H must address ends that are actual$` @ `^^ Notes?$` + Outline the rest. ━━━━━━ Note ────── H must address ends that are actual - Else H would no longer be apodictic. : see `^^H is apodictic$` ∵ It would require humanity to exist through ends that nobody wills, a requirement that fails of justification. : see `^^ ends justification$` \ 🅮 This file has been dedicated by its author(s) to the public domain. To the extent possible \ under law, the author(s) waive all copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this file \ under the terms of a CC0 1.0 waiver. See `LICENCE.txt` in the base directory of this waycast.