PHIL 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: John Stuart Mill, Paternalism, List Of Civilisations In The Culture Series

• School: College of The Sequoias
• Department: Philosophy (PHIL)
• Course: PHIL 001
• Professor: cline

Document Summary

Perhaps this is a matter not of following a rule but having a set of values that shape one"s attitudes to the people to whom one may be speaking. Not every linguistic exchange is a conversation. The idea that a linguistic exchange is a conversation is a default assumption. This could mean that if we know absolutely nothing about someone except that we share a language with them, the new should start by trusting them. This isn"t a theoretical assumption but just shitty advice. This is correct and a central expression of the ethical disposition of sincerity. Philosophers have exaggerated the difference between promises and mere statements of intention important in legal contexts. Promises can be made without the formalities of promising but these considerations only come up after their utterance. Promises in informal contexts are less than contracts. Such flexibilities and understandings help define the territory of friendship, trustful acquaintance and other stuff.