The disunity of moral judgment: Evidence and implications

Philosophical Psychology 1:1-20 (2022)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

We argue that there is significant evidence for reconsidering the possibility that moral judgment constitutes a distinctive category of judgment. We begin by reviewing evidence and arguments from neuroscience and philosophy that seem to indicate that a diversity of brain processes result in verdicts that we ordinarily consider “moral judgments”. We argue that if these findings are correct, this is plausible reason for doubting that all moral judgments necessarily share common features: if diverse brain processes give rise to what we refer to as “moral judgments”, then we have reason to suspect that these judgments may have different features. After advancing this argument, we show that giving up the unity of moral judgment seems to effectively dissolve the internalism/externalism debate concerning motivation within the field of metaethics.

Similar books and articles

The Amoralist and the Anaesthetic.Alex King - 2018 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 99 (4):632-663.
Moral Judgment and Motivation.Xiao Zhang - 2020 - Dissertation, University of Birmingham
Ethical internalism and moral indifference.Sharon E. Sytsma - 1995 - Journal of Value Inquiry 29 (2):193-201.
Psychopathy and internalism.Victor Kumar - 2016 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 46 (3):318-345.
Moral Judgment and Motivation.Chris David Meyers - 2002 - Dissertation, Loyola University of Chicago
The Limits of Emotion in Moral Judgment.Joshua May - 2018 - In Karen Jones & François Schroeter (eds.), The Many Moral Rationalisms. New York: Oxford Univerisity Press. pp. 286-306.
Internalism, Emotionism, and the Psychopathy Challenge.Lei Zhong - 2013 - Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 20 (4):329-337.
Ethical Externalism and the Moral Sense.Susan M. Purviance - 2002 - Journal of Philosophical Research 27:585-600.

Analytics

Added to PP
2022-03-31

Downloads
620 (#28,093)

6 months
203 (#13,651)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

David Sackris
Arapahoe Community College
Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen
University of Toronto at Mississauga

Citations of this work

Are there "Moral" Judgments?David Sackris & Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen - 2023 - European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 19 (2):(A1)1-24.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The moral problem.Michael Smith - 1994 - Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell.
Famine, affluence, and morality.Peter Singer - 1972 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (3):229-243.

View all 57 references / Add more references