The Scottish philosopher David Hume famously deduced that you cannot derive an ought from an is.
I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around this. Can someone explain to this to me in simplified terms?
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The point is that you cannot derive values from facts.
Let’s say we ought to fight tyranny because it is making people unhappy. This doesn’t work without the previous OUGHT statement that we should strive to maximize happiness. And again you can’t get to that statement with an IS proposition. You always need values to get to values.
No amount of observation of how reality is gives you what reality should be like.
Edit: changed the example for clarity
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