I don't buy it. If tastes can be learned, they can also be taught. Children don't have a taste for wine, adult literature, or abstract paintings. They are taught to acquire a taste for these things. Buddhists are taught a taste for meditation and enlightenment; it doesn't come naturally for the rest of us.Terrapin Station wrote: ↑October 30th, 2020, 10:14 am
There's no moral stance that I hold that I hold due to being "taught" it. I can't be "taught to feel" one way or another about interpersonal behavior. I would be surprised if some people felt that they were "taught to feel" some way or other and wound up feeling that way, but maybe some people would say that.
I can't be taught preferences or tastes in general. I simply HAVE the preferences or tastes that I do. They're dispositions I have due to the physical facts of my brain--its particular structure and functioning.
This is not to say that my preferences or tastes can't be influenced by anything. They certainly can be. All sorts of experiences, different things that one becomes acclimated to, etc. can all have an influence on preferences and tastes, but this is a much different idea than having preferences and tastes transmitted to one or being "taught" them.
I can't appreciate Chinese literature if I don't learn to read Chinese, or English literature without being taught English.
Our preferences and tastes are enculturated. Our taste for romantic love is conditioned by societal norms, literary conventions, and popular songs. It is different from that of those who learned different cultural norms. Humans are social creatures. We learn at a young age to display and cultivate those tastes which lead us to be admired. loved and respected, We repress potential tastes that lead us to be despised, reviled, and isolated. Why should our tastes in ethics and morals be any different?
p.s. My circumcision post above was satirical.