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Chapter Thirteen: Moral Realism and the Challenge of Skepticism. Moral Realism This theory claims that moral facts exist and are part of the fabric of the universe: they exist independently of our thoughts about them. Terms.
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Chapter Thirteen: Moral Realism and the Challenge of Skepticism Moral Realism This theory claims that moral facts exist and are part of the fabric of the universe: they exist independently of our thoughts about them
Terms • Nonnaturalism: a theory held by nonnaturalistic moral realists who ground moral values in nonnatural facts about the world • Moral skepticism: a denial that moral values are objectively factual • Moral nihilism: holds that there are no moral facts, no moral truths, and no moral knowledge.
Mackie’s Moral Skepticism • Argues “there are no objective values”, there are no objective moral truths • His view is not about the meaning of moral statements but about objective facts, about whether there are any factually right or good actions.
Arguments from Relativity, Queerness, and Projection • Mackie offers three arguments for his skeptical position: • 1. Argument from relativity: there is no universal moral code to which all people adhere to • 2. Argument from queerness: the implausiblity of supposing that such things as values have an independent existence
Arguments from Relativity, Queerness, and Projection • 3. Argument from projection: aims to show that belief in objective value is the result of psychological tendencies to project subjective beliefs to the outside world
Harman’s Moral Nihilism • Defends an extreme Moral Nihilism, morality is simply an illusion • Disanalogy thesis: moral principles cannot be tested by observation in the same way that scientific theories can. • We choose our moral values not because of the way the world is, but because of the way we were brought up into this world.
Criticism: Scientific and Moral Observation are Analogous • There is no strong disanalogy between scientific and moral observation • May not be able to be tested in the same way as empirical theories but they can be tested
A Defense of Moral Realism • Moral Facts about Happiness and Suffering • Universal and Supervenient Properties • Noncognitivism and Moral Realism