Doubting Deference
Abstract
Deference is a belief formation process that occurs when one believes something
in virtue of the fact that someone else believes it. Many philosophers have argued that we
react differently to beliefs formed through deference in virtue of whether they are moral or
non-moral, and that this psychological reaction is evidence for distinct features of the moral
domain. This paper presents six worries concerning the use of this evidence in metaethics
for drawing conclusions about distinct features of morality. A theory is proposed to explain
reactions to moral deference stemming from concerns about this theoretical construct.