‘Your theory isn’t complex enough’ isn’t a reasonable objection, in itself, to a moral theory. Rather, ‘value is complex’ is a universal reason to be less confident about all theories. (No theory, no matter how complex, is immune to this problem, because value might always turn out to be even more complex than the theory suggests.) To suggest that your moral theory is more likely to be correct than a simpler alternative merely because it’s more complicated is obviously wrong, because knowing that value is complex tells us nothing about how it is complex.
In fact, even though we know that value is complex, a complicated theory that accounts for the evidence will almost always get more wrong than a simple theory that accounts for the same evidence—a more detailed map can be wrong about the territory in more ways.
Again, morality doesn’t behave like science.
Interestingly, in all the above respects human morality does behave like any other empirical phenomenon. The reasons to think morality is complex, and the best methods for figuring out exactly how it is complex, are the same as for any complex natural entity. “Looking for general laws” is a good idea here for the same reason it’s a good idea in any scientific endeavor; we start by ruling out the simplest explanations, then move toward increasing complexity as the data demands. That way we know we’re not complicating our theory in arbitrary or unnecessary ways.
Knowing at the outset that storms are complex doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to construct very simple predictive and descriptive models of weather systems, and see how close our simulation comes to getting it right. Once we have a basically right model, we can then work on incrementally increasing its precision. As for storms, so for norms. The analogy is particularly appropriate because in both cases we seek an approximation not only as a first step in a truth-seeking research program, but also as a behavior-guiding heuristic for making real-life decisions under uncertainty.
‘Your theory isn’t complex enough’ isn’t a reasonable objection, in itself, to a moral theory. Rather, ‘value is complex’ is a universal reason to be less confident about all theories.
If I am sure that value is complex and I am given two theories, one of which is complex and the other simple, then I can be sure that the simple one is wrong. The other one is merely probably wrong (as most such theories are). “Too simple” is a valid objection if the premise “Not simple” is implied.
That’s assuming the two theories are being treated as perfected Grand Unified Theories Of The Phenomenon. If that’s the case, then yes, you can simply dismiss a purported Finished Product that is too simple, without even bothering to check on how accurate it is first. But we’re talking about preliminary hypotheses and approximate models here. If your first guess adds arbitrary complications just to try to look more like you think the Final Theory will someday appear, you won’t learn as much from the areas where your map fails. ‘Value is complex’ is compatible with the utility of starting with simple models, particularly since we don’t yet know in what respects it is complex.
To suggest that your moral theory is more likely to be correct than a simpler alternative merely because it’s more complicated is obviously wrong
Obviously that’s not what I’m suggesting. What I’m suggesting is that it’s both more complicated and that this complication is justified from my perspective because it captures my moral intuitions better.
‘Your theory isn’t complex enough’ isn’t a reasonable objection, in itself, to a moral theory. Rather, ‘value is complex’ is a universal reason to be less confident about all theories. (No theory, no matter how complex, is immune to this problem, because value might always turn out to be even more complex than the theory suggests.) To suggest that your moral theory is more likely to be correct than a simpler alternative merely because it’s more complicated is obviously wrong, because knowing that value is complex tells us nothing about how it is complex.
In fact, even though we know that value is complex, a complicated theory that accounts for the evidence will almost always get more wrong than a simple theory that accounts for the same evidence—a more detailed map can be wrong about the territory in more ways.
Interestingly, in all the above respects human morality does behave like any other empirical phenomenon. The reasons to think morality is complex, and the best methods for figuring out exactly how it is complex, are the same as for any complex natural entity. “Looking for general laws” is a good idea here for the same reason it’s a good idea in any scientific endeavor; we start by ruling out the simplest explanations, then move toward increasing complexity as the data demands. That way we know we’re not complicating our theory in arbitrary or unnecessary ways.
Knowing at the outset that storms are complex doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to construct very simple predictive and descriptive models of weather systems, and see how close our simulation comes to getting it right. Once we have a basically right model, we can then work on incrementally increasing its precision. As for storms, so for norms. The analogy is particularly appropriate because in both cases we seek an approximation not only as a first step in a truth-seeking research program, but also as a behavior-guiding heuristic for making real-life decisions under uncertainty.
If I am sure that value is complex and I am given two theories, one of which is complex and the other simple, then I can be sure that the simple one is wrong. The other one is merely probably wrong (as most such theories are). “Too simple” is a valid objection if the premise “Not simple” is implied.
That’s assuming the two theories are being treated as perfected Grand Unified Theories Of The Phenomenon. If that’s the case, then yes, you can simply dismiss a purported Finished Product that is too simple, without even bothering to check on how accurate it is first. But we’re talking about preliminary hypotheses and approximate models here. If your first guess adds arbitrary complications just to try to look more like you think the Final Theory will someday appear, you won’t learn as much from the areas where your map fails. ‘Value is complex’ is compatible with the utility of starting with simple models, particularly since we don’t yet know in what respects it is complex.
Obviously that’s not what I’m suggesting. What I’m suggesting is that it’s both more complicated and that this complication is justified from my perspective because it captures my moral intuitions better.
What data?