I’m interested in explaining foundational moral beliefs like suffering is bad, not beliefs like “animals do/don’t suffer”, which is about badness only because we accept the foundational assumption that suffering is bad. Is that clear in the updated text?
Now, I don’t think these beliefs come from playing axiomatic games like “define good as that which increases welfare”. There are many lines of evidence for this. First: “define bad as that which increases suffering” is not equally as plausible as “define good as that which increases suffering”. We have pre-existing beliefs about this.
Second: you talk about philosophers analysing welfare. However, the method that philosophers use to do this usually involves analysing a bunch of fundamental moral assumptions. For example, from the Stanford encyclopaedia of philosophy:
I am suggesting that the source of these fundamental moral assumptions may not be mysterious—we have a known ability to form beliefs based on what we want, and fundamental moral beliefs often align with what we want.
Problem is, motivated reasoning can only explain selfish beliefs, beliefs which are in accordance with our own motivations. But moral beliefs are often not at all selfish. In contrast, “suffering is bad” could just be part of what “bad” means. No motivated reasoning required. It would be a “foundational belief” in the same sense “Bachelors are unmarried” could be called “foundational”.
For what it’s worth, one idea I had as a result of our discussion was this:
We form lots of beliefs as a result of motivated reasoning
These beliefs are amenable to revision due to evidence, reason or (maybe) social pressure
Those beliefs that are largely resilient to these challenges are “moral foundations”
So philosophers like “pain is bad” as a moral foundation because we want to believe it + it is hard to challenge with evidence or reason. Laypeople probably have lots of foundational moral beliefs that don’t stand up as well to evidence or reason, but (perhaps) are equally attributable to motivated reasoning.
Social pressure is a bit iffy to include because I think lots of people relate to beliefs that they adopted because of social pressure as moral foundations, and believing something because you’re under pressure to do so is an instance of motivated reasoning.
I don’t think this is a response to your objections, but I’m leaving it here in case it interests you.
I can explain why I believe bachelors are unmarried: I learned that this is what the word bachelor means, I learned this because it is what bachelor means, and the fact that there’s a word “bachelor” that means “unmarried man” is contingent on some unimportant accidents in the evolution of language. A) it is certainly not the result of an axiomatic game and B) if moral beliefs were also contingent on accidents in the evolution of language (I think most are not), that would have profound implications for metaethics.
Motivated belief can explain non-purely-selfish beliefs. I might believe pain is bad because I am motivated to believe it, but the belief still concerns other people. This is even more true when we go about constructing higher order beliefs and trying to enforce consistency among beliefs. Undesirable moral beliefs could be a mark against this theory, but you need more than not-purely-selfish moral beliefs.
I’m going to bow out at this point because I think we’re getting stuck covering the same ground.
Thanks for your continued engagement.
I’m interested in explaining foundational moral beliefs like suffering is bad, not beliefs like “animals do/don’t suffer”, which is about badness only because we accept the foundational assumption that suffering is bad. Is that clear in the updated text?
Now, I don’t think these beliefs come from playing axiomatic games like “define good as that which increases welfare”. There are many lines of evidence for this. First: “define bad as that which increases suffering” is not equally as plausible as “define good as that which increases suffering”. We have pre-existing beliefs about this.
Second: you talk about philosophers analysing welfare. However, the method that philosophers use to do this usually involves analysing a bunch of fundamental moral assumptions. For example, from the Stanford encyclopaedia of philosophy:
I am suggesting that the source of these fundamental moral assumptions may not be mysterious—we have a known ability to form beliefs based on what we want, and fundamental moral beliefs often align with what we want.
Problem is, motivated reasoning can only explain selfish beliefs, beliefs which are in accordance with our own motivations. But moral beliefs are often not at all selfish. In contrast, “suffering is bad” could just be part of what “bad” means. No motivated reasoning required. It would be a “foundational belief” in the same sense “Bachelors are unmarried” could be called “foundational”.
For what it’s worth, one idea I had as a result of our discussion was this:
We form lots of beliefs as a result of motivated reasoning
These beliefs are amenable to revision due to evidence, reason or (maybe) social pressure
Those beliefs that are largely resilient to these challenges are “moral foundations”
So philosophers like “pain is bad” as a moral foundation because we want to believe it + it is hard to challenge with evidence or reason. Laypeople probably have lots of foundational moral beliefs that don’t stand up as well to evidence or reason, but (perhaps) are equally attributable to motivated reasoning.
Social pressure is a bit iffy to include because I think lots of people relate to beliefs that they adopted because of social pressure as moral foundations, and believing something because you’re under pressure to do so is an instance of motivated reasoning.
I don’t think this is a response to your objections, but I’m leaving it here in case it interests you.
I can explain why I believe bachelors are unmarried: I learned that this is what the word bachelor means, I learned this because it is what bachelor means, and the fact that there’s a word “bachelor” that means “unmarried man” is contingent on some unimportant accidents in the evolution of language. A) it is certainly not the result of an axiomatic game and B) if moral beliefs were also contingent on accidents in the evolution of language (I think most are not), that would have profound implications for metaethics.
Motivated belief can explain non-purely-selfish beliefs. I might believe pain is bad because I am motivated to believe it, but the belief still concerns other people. This is even more true when we go about constructing higher order beliefs and trying to enforce consistency among beliefs. Undesirable moral beliefs could be a mark against this theory, but you need more than not-purely-selfish moral beliefs.
I’m going to bow out at this point because I think we’re getting stuck covering the same ground.