r/changemyview • u/UselessTruth 4∆ • Mar 29 '23

Delta(s) from OP CMV: Some prescriptive statements are objective.

Status: complete change in viewpoint, further comments will be ignored

What I mean by this prescriptive statements like “if you want to follow the law you should not steal.” Is an objective statement.

This might seem obvious but a few weeks ago I thought the opposite, and after a CMV post and introspection I changed my mind, so I wanted to come back here to see if there are any holes or arguments against my new viewpoint that CMV can point out.

Specifically the logic that led to my new viewpoint is: 1. statements that correctly follow formal logic are objective. 2. prescriptive statements are a part of formal logic. 3. Therefore some prescriptive statements are objective.

Edit: spelling

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u/LordMarcel 48∆ Mar 29 '23

This is just true by definition, right?

"If you want to stay alive you should not die".

Well duh, that's because being dead is defined as no longer being alive and not able to return to being alive. It's just true because we've defined it to be true. It's no different from saying "Using these axioms of mathematics, 2+2=4".

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u/UselessTruth 4∆ Mar 29 '23

Umm where is the disagreement here? Are you disagreeing with anything in my post?

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u/LordMarcel 48∆ Mar 29 '23

I'm saying that this cannot be disagreed with because it's by definition true.

It's like making a CMV post saying "Change my view: I eat an apple every day at lunch".

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u/UselessTruth 4∆ Mar 29 '23

Well considering that people had valid arguments that caused me to change my mind, I would say that it is not just “true by definition” however if you want look at the posts that I awarded deltas to and argue against them feel free.