Degrees of experiential validation

I would say that level 1 validation is firsthand experience, such as if you walk through a factory farm and then try to eat a hamburger afterwards. Level 2 validation is secondhand experience, where you might read about factory farming procedures in a book, or on a documentary. Level 3 validation is a realistic hypothetical, where you imagine something that you might well face. Level 4 validation is an unrealistic hypothetical, which in practice is unlikely to happen if ever.

The top two levels are the really strong levels of experiential validation, which one would expect for an empirical theory of ethics. The bottom two levels are relatively weak, and the bottom level particularly is so weak that it should probably not be used at all. Hence, I can certainly invalidate the argument with the idiots at my science fiction club on the grounds that it was based on totally preposterous scenarios. It would be impossible to form reliable intuitions on the basis of those hypotheticals alone.

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