Axiologic uncertainty: the ground of motivation - The society in which I live safeguards my freedom through its institutions, but leaves me without a sense of purpose, giving me no support in the [rational] use of it. - To have a worthwhile cause to pursue has been my enduring desire, and I formulate what would satisfy it. W. Knowledge of a thing worthy in its own right (X), which I might take as an end. - Taken as such, X would be an end of which I need not ask, ‘To what end?’ Alone it would suffice. Its value being contingent on no other end, I would devote my efforts to it and pursue it for its own sake. - This would satisfy my desire. - I explain my desire in this way because I have come to understand it as the felt need for a secure hold on reason. principle: Reason in its practical use requires, as the ground of all merely contingent ends, an end which is either (X) an absolute good, worthy in its own right; or (W) knowledge of such an absolute good. + Clarify: W must be complete enough to allow a determination of whether the good is attained and, if necessary, maintained or held. + Clarify: mere belief based on plausibility will not suffice for W, as it would in the case of deliberating over means whose choice was open to prudence. One must be certain of the end that serves as ground. - Having no knowledge of any X — cognizant of nothing that would qualify, no absolute good — I am rationally bound to go in search of that knowledge. I must take W as my end. : cf. `^*- Therefore.+bound to.+a best effort at learning what those norms are` @ moral_uncertainty.brec : Another instance of a binding default norm triggered by one’s awareness of normative ignorance. - W is knowledge of what is commonly called ‘the purpose of life’ or ‘the meaning of life’. - These familiar phrases remind me I am not alone in desiring it, and frequently it is a byword for the unknowable, the unattainable. ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ - I often pause to look at the sky on clear nights. - Many years ago, I had a thought that sticks with me. - It rests on two physical facts — the limit of light speed and the vastness of space — and three inferences, as follows. ⁃ The limit of light speed turns distance into a formidable barrier. : see `^*a formidable barrier$` @ ../diaspora/premise.brec ⁃ Existential hazards are confined by the barrier. : re `hazards.+barrier` see `^^${same}$`i @ ../diaspora/premise.brec ⁃ We are not confined. : re `^. (.+)\.$` see `^^${same}$`i @ ../diaspora/premise.brec + Tell how *nowadays* I take it to express a covenant in terms of the search. : re `nowadays` cf. `^*- Many years ago, I had a thought` : re `nowadays` see `^*- I.+have come to understand it` ' If you have what it takes to reach me and do not discover what you seek along the way, then I will give you time and space unbounded in which to carry on until you do. ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ ┈ - Seeing a way foward and being attracted to it without also seeing the destination is what eventually enabled me to understand the basis of my desire, and then channel it in the form of a deliberate search. - Again, I formulate the object of that search. What I seek is: W. Knowledge of an absolute good, a thing worthy in its own right. + Explain what knowledge here consists in. : see @ moral_uncertainty.brec : wherefrom working out the equivalents for W - Only a stable consensus can validate knowledge on a topic that lies open to controversy. : re `open to controversy` see `frequently it is a byword\R +for the unknowable` C. A stable consensus on an absolute good. + Warrant this claim. : see @ `^*- Only.+consensus can validate` @ moral_uncertainty.brec - A stable consensus requires a sustained quorum. H. The rational macrocommunity of humankind extant through C to W. + Define the ‘rational macrocommunity of humankind’. : see @ moral_uncertainty.brec - The macrocommunity must be rational because reason is necessary to W, as it is necessary to all knowledge. : join `^*- The macrocommunity must be rational` @ moral_uncertainty.brec - In binding me to an end (W) that is necessarily collective (C), reason has bound me to the interim maintenance (H) of the collective itself. - Short of W, no alternative exists within the bounds of reason. : cf. `no alternative exists within moral bounds\.$` @ moral_uncertainty.brec - W is unlikely to be attained in my own time. But even if I judged it unattainable, it would remain the only ground for rational action on my part. ∴ I take W as my end, and with it C and H. : private : being a subjective account \ 🅮 This file has been dedicated by Michael Allan to the public domain. To the extent possible \ under law, Michael Allan waives 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.