So we have here a ‘guess’ about what people actually trained to think about morality might be thinking, as well as reasoning based on what people insufficiently trained in morality think.
If anything, this might serve as an argument that we need to actually treat ethics seriously, and teach it to everybody (not just philosophers).
He seems to regard intuition as though it’s not a sort of perception. That seems clearly wrong.
I was amazed to note that this was being presented in a philosophy department. But then, I don’t know what Princeton’s department is like.
It seems inconsistent to be denying moral realism and then making claims about what sort of language we should be using.
It seems inconsistent to be denying moral realism and then making claims about what sort of language we should be using.
The thesis doesn’t claim “we should do X” but rather “X is an effective way to to reduce misunderstanding and conflict and change generally prevailing social conditions.” The inconsistency only arises if Greene bases in moral realism the assertion that reducing misunderstanding and conflict is desirable and the prevailing social conditions ought to be changed.
So we have here a ‘guess’ about what people actually trained to think about morality might be thinking, as well as reasoning based on what people insufficiently trained in morality think.
If anything, this might serve as an argument that we need to actually treat ethics seriously, and teach it to everybody (not just philosophers).
He seems to regard intuition as though it’s not a sort of perception. That seems clearly wrong.
I was amazed to note that this was being presented in a philosophy department. But then, I don’t know what Princeton’s department is like.
It seems inconsistent to be denying moral realism and then making claims about what sort of language we should be using.
The thesis doesn’t claim “we should do X” but rather “X is an effective way to to reduce misunderstanding and conflict and change generally prevailing social conditions.” The inconsistency only arises if Greene bases in moral realism the assertion that reducing misunderstanding and conflict is desirable and the prevailing social conditions ought to be changed.
This is a good point. I think I need to do another post on “what you can still say once you’ve abandoned realism”.
Doesn’t the simple statement that “you can still agree on some things” pretty much sum it up?
Right—in this case he is claiming that, by our own subjective criteria, each one of us would benefit if we all used less realist language.
No, because not all norms are moral norms.
That’s actually a pretty contentious claim.
Non-mural? Nein!