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The Evidential Weight of Considered Moral Judgments San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Master's Theses Master's Theses and Graduate Research 2009 The evidential weight of considered moral judgments Christopher Michael Cloos San Jose State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses Recommended Citation Cloos, Christopher Michael, "The evidential weight of considered moral judgments" (2009). Master's Theses. 3352. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.28pf-kx6u https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/3352 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses and Graduate Research at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE EVIDENTIAL WEIGHT OF CONSIDERED MORAL JUDGMENTS A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Philosophy San José State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Christopher Michael Cloos December 2009 © 2009 Christopher Michael Cloos ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE EVIDENTIAL WEIGHT OF CONSIDERED MORAL JUDGMENTS by Christopher Michael Cloos APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY December 2009 Dr. William H. Shaw Department of Philosophy Dr. Anand J. Vaidya Department of Philosophy Dr. Richard L. Tieszen Department of Philosophy ABSTRACT THE EVIDENTIAL WEIGHT OF CONSIDERED MORAL JUDGMENTS by Christopher Michael Cloos The input objection to reflective equilibrium (RE) claims that the method fails as a method of moral justification. According to the objection, considered moral judgments (CMJs) are not truth-conducive. Because the method uses inputs that are not credible, the method does not generate justified moral beliefs. The objection is solved by reinterpreting RE using contemporary developments in ethical intuitionism. The first half of the thesis sets up the input objection, explores potential responses to the objection, and uncovers the best way to solve the objection. The second half of the thesis solves the input objection by defining key terms, detailing the revised RE procedure, reinserting the notion of a competent moral judge into the method, using intuitionist criteria for identifying genuine moral intuitions, creating three filters capable of sorting good from bad CMJs, and showing how it is possible to assign evidential weight to CMJs so that they can be used as standards against which moral principles can be measured and a justified moral theory realized. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a debt of gratitude to William H. Shaw for his patient guidance during directed readings on this topic, useful dialogue on issues concerning moral epistemology and extensive feedback on ways to make this thesis more concise and effective. I also owe sincere thanks to Anand J. Vaidya for extensive comments on points of concern. His comments prompted many beneficial refinements. I also thank Richard L. Tieszen for his feedback and objections. In addition, I wish to thank the many philosophy professors I took classes from while in the program and the graduate students with whom I discussed issues related to this thesis. It was the students’ desire for excellence in philosophy that prompted me to seek greater rigor in my philosophical abilities. Lastly, any remaining errors in this thesis are squarely the responsibility of the author. v TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background and Big Picture .....................................................................................1 1.2 Overview of the Method ...........................................................................................6 1.3 Why Bother with Reflective Equilibrium? ................................................................9 1.4 What Type of Justification Does RE Offer? ...........................................................15 2 The Input Objection ....................................................................................................20 2.1 CMJs Possess No Evidential Weight ......................................................................20 2.2 Ways to Establish the Credibility of CMJs .............................................................22 3 The Methodological Response ....................................................................................29 3.1 Key Distinctions ......................................................................................................29 3.2 Positions Emphasizing the Methodological Response ............................................34 4 Architecture and Truth ...............................................................................................46 4.1 Various Combinations .............................................................................................46 4.2 RE is Compatible with Foundationalism ................................................................51 4.3 Against Wide Ethical Foundationalism ...................................................................60 4.4 Wide-RE is not Superior to Narrow-RE ................................................................64 4.5 NRE is Compatible with Moderate Intuitionism ....................................................74 5 Solving the Input Objection ........................................................................................78 5.1 Key Objectives ........................................................................................................78 5.2 Slavery as a Case Study ..........................................................................................79 5.3 A Taxonomy of Key Terms.....................................................................................82 vi 5.4 Framing the Input Objection in Key Terms ............................................................92 5.5 Architecture .............................................................................................................96 5.6 General Procedures ...............................................................................................101 5.7 Competent Moral Judge ........................................................................................111 5.8 Moral Intuitions .....................................................................................................114 5.9 The Three Filters ...................................................................................................118 5.10 Assigning Evidential Weight ..............................................................................129 5.11 Principles .............................................................................................................133 5.12 Revision ...............................................................................................................137 6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................142 6.1 Upshots ..................................................................................................................142 6.2 Correct Conclusions in the Slavery Cases .............................................................144 6.3 A Brief Recap ........................................................................................................146 References ....................................................................................................................147 . vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Problematic Components of Reflective Equilibrium ....................................10 viii 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND AND BIG PICTURE Reflective equilibrium (RE) remains a prominent way of thinking about moral justification. However, many moral theorists mention RE in their work without actually analyzing the method itself. Many theorists are not aware of the current state of the literature. RE has been shown to be defective. To cite one example, Daniel Bonevac (2004) has shown that as a decision procedure RE fails to reach a final equilibrium state where beliefs are fully justified. As a consequence of Bonevac’s paper RE must be revised if it is to remain viable. Bonevac somewhat develops a pragmatic/intuitionist version of RE, yet he never fully develops such a version of the method.1 Historically, RE has been tweaked in response to a fundamental objection to the method known as the no credibility objection or the input objection .2 According to this objection the inputs of the process must be initially credible if the outputs of the process are to consist of justified beliefs. Norman Daniels extended RE from its pure-Rawlsian interpretation in order to answer Richard Brandt’s formulation of the input objection. Brandt (1979) became an RE-eliminativist by opting for a rational, desire-based moral epistemology. Brandt did this in response to his own criticism of the Rawlsian version of RE. Brandt’s accusation amounted to pointing out that Rawls’ method had intuitionism 1 Cf. Brink 1989: 103. In fairness, it could be argued against Bonevac that he has misunderstood the notion of coherence and justification in RE. That RE fails as a decision procedure comes as no surprise because there is no decision procedure for determining the explanatory power of beliefs. Such a move, however, makes RE succeed or fail in relation to the notion of coherence. There is reason to move away from a pure coherentist interpretation
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