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(2015). Conceptualizing Metaethics - a Commentary on Prinz

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(2015). Conceptualizing Metaethics - a Commentary on Prinz Conceptualizing Metaethics A Commentary on Prinz Yann Wilhelm In this commentary on Prinz’s “Naturalizing Metaethics” I shall first look briefly Commentator at his metho ological assum!tions. I #ill argue that Prinz’s a!!roach is more ra $ ical an less conciliatory bet#een analytical an em!irical a!!roaches than it Yann Wilhelm seems from his o#n escri!tion" In the secon !art of my commentary% I shall look y#ilhelm1stu ents.uni-mainz" e at one !ossible ob&ection to Prinz’s sentimentalism' the e(i ence he !resents oes not !ro(i e the nee e mo al strength for sentimentalism" I shall !resent t#o e)$ +ohannes 2utenberg$3ni(ersit4t am!le of this ob&ection% an argue that Prinz’s o#n e!iction oesn’t a e*uately Mainz% 2ermany re!resent it" I shall then use the hel!ful istinction offere by +on ,resan bet#een de dicto$ an de re-internalism to analyze un erlying !roblems in the ob&ection" I ,arget Author #ill !resent another #ay of reacting to it% #hich I think fits nicely #ith Prinz’s naturalize metho ology" In the last !art% I shall look at his criti*ue of non-cog$ +esse Prinz niti(ism" Prinz argues that non-cogniti(ism makes certain linguistic !re ictions &esse1subcorte)"com that turn out to be #rong' if non-cogniti(ism #ere true #e #oul e)!ect our moral City 3ni(ersity of Ne# York language to reflect this. I #ill argue that there are many forms of non-cogniti(ism Ne# York% NY% 3"0"A. that !re ict this surface grammar" ,he key i ea is that non-cogniti(ism entails a !ragmatic theory of moral language" I then offer a speculati(e e)!lanation about 5 itors #hy the moral language has its surface form" ,his speculation% I argue% has at least the same amount of !lausibility as cogniti(ist theories. -urthermore% this ,homas Metzinger !ossible e)!lanation is o!en to em!irical in(estigation" I agree #ith Prinz that% ul$ metzinger 1uni$mainz" e timately% metaethical theories shoul be teste against em!irical e(i ence" Prinz !resents conce!tual an em!irical #ork as mutually enhancing enterprises. My +ohannes 2utenberg$3ni(ersit4t commentary is, I ho!e% a small contribution highlighting the conce!tual si e of the Mainz% 2ermany coin" +ennifer M" Win t Keywords &ennifer"#in t1monash"e u Cogniti(ism . /e icto-internalism . /e re-internalism . Metaethics . Metho olo$ Monash 3ni(ersity gical naturalism . Moti(ational internalism . Non-cogniti(ism . 0entimentalism Melbourne% Australia 1 Metaethics under empirical scrutiny Prinz proposes to naturalize metaethics. characterizes metaethics as being concerned with Metaethics is traditionally regarded as a second- the oundations o moral )udgments !Prinz this order discourse about ethics. Where normative collection, p. &'. *his is his starting point, which ethics asks what is good and what is bad, what shapes his decision tree. He acknowledges that one we should or shouldn’t do, metaethics asks the could arrange the tree in di erent ways, depending question of what morality is itsel !"eLapp on which aspect one wants to pull into ocus. $%&&'. (ts sub)ect is the ontology o moral prop- Prinz’s primary goal is to show that every erties, the semantics of moral discourse, the epi- question in the decision tree is empirically tract- stemic oundation of moral )udgments and the able !this collection, p. &'. *his is his methodo- psychology of moral opinions. *hese di erent logical naturalism !p. $'.& He argues that we aspects are highly interrelated—answers in one & He contrasts this with metaphysical naturalism and semantic natur- area in luence questions asked in others. alism. *he ormer says that everything there is belongs to the nat- *here are many di erent ways to tackle the ural world. *he latter tries to reduce concepts rom various domains in terms that are more likely to be naturalized in the metaphysical question o what morality itsel actually is. Prinz sense. Wilhelm% Y" 6789:;" Conce!tualizing Metaethics $ A Commentary on Prinz" In ," Metzinger < +" M" Win t 65 s;" Open MIND: =86C;" -rankfurt am Main' MIN/ 2rou!" oi' 98"9::87>?@A=?:A:@8BA? 1 | ? ###"o!en$min "net should study the domain of metaethics empiric- which we gain knowledge only through e7peri- ally. He wants to test -..../ theories derived rom ence. Prinz is a radical empiricist at heart. philosophical re lection against the tribunal of An empirical scientist could ask: -What empirical evidence0 (Prinz this collection, p. 5'. di erentiates this rom my own work30 =or she, Metaethics, according to him, is not the too, re lects upon di erent theories, how they sole matter o armchair re lection. *his seems relate to each other, ormulates questions, and natural when we characterize metaethics as the so on. *his is an important part of scienti ic, question o what morality itsel is. But that empirical work. ( think Prinz would agree. An goes against the view that metaethics—or philo- important upshot of his naturalized philosophy sophy in general+is not concerned with what is that there are no clear-cut borders between actually is the case, but with what must be the philosophy and psychology !Prinz $%%;, pp. case. What are the necessary conditions of mor- $%>?$%@'. *hey are di erent disciplines not be- ality3 4n this view, metaethics is concerned cause of their di erent sub)ect areas or methods with statements that hold a priori. Most o the but or pragmatic reasons. *hey are di erent time this means deriving knowledge rom re lec- academic disciplines, shaped by sociological and tion upon the meaning of our concepts. *his historical processes. *he borders between the method o conceptual analysis had been at the di erent disciplines become blurred in the em- core of philosophy since the analytic turn !Prinz pirical turn. 6ccording to Prinz, this is a good this collection, p. 3'. thing. Against this turn Prinz sets the empirical ( think this the real strength of Prinz’s ap- turn !this collection, p. 5'. He describes this de- proach. Arguably many disciplines are divided velopment as an enrichment of the philosopher’s largely by pragmatical di erences, like educa- tool bo7. Where conceptual considerations help tion and academic organization. (nstead of de- us to ormulate theories and lesh out the di er- marcating di erent approaches, instead of draw- ences between di erent views, empirical meth- ing sharp lines between them, Prinz proposes ods con irm the theories derived rom this work. that we unite them in the search or e7plana- *he ormer pose questions and ormulates pos- tions of the natural world. sible answers8 the latter test those answers. Prinz’s target article is a very good e7- Prinz emphasizes that empirical and traditional ample o this approach. Here ( want to make a approaches are not opposed to one another !this ew remarks in the spirit of Prinz’s own meth- collection, p. 1'. 9ather, they complement each odology. (n the ne7t section ( will ocus on a other. *hey’re more like opposing points on a speci ic ob)ection against Prinz’s answers to the continuum of methods for e7ploring the world. irst question in the decision tree. I think that it (t is important to see that this view is not can clari y some consequences o his methodolo- as conciliatory between traditional analytic gical naturalism for metaethics. philosophy and empirical philosophy as it might seem. (t does not leave room or a priori arm- 2 Internalism and modal strength chair re lection. (n act, Prinz even regards con- ceptual analysis as an empirical task: -.6/rm- (n this section ( discuss Prinz’s answer to a po- chair conceptual analysis can be characterized tential ob)ection to his sentimentalism, namely, as an introspective memory retrieval process. As that the evidence lacks modal strength. (n act, such, it can be regarded as a orm o observa- ob)ections o this kind have already been raised tion0 ($%%;, p. 191'. against Prinz’s and other naturalistic When Prinz speaks of -traditional meth- metaethical theories already. ( shall irst argue ods0, he does not include conceptual analysis as that his answer doesn’t get to the heart of the an a priori enterprise. 9ather, he is re erring to ob)ection. Aecond, ( propose a way in which various tools, or e7ample ormal semantics or Prinz can and should answer it. *o do this ( logic, which help us articulate theories. *hey shall present two instances where this ob)ection are tools or e7ploring the natural world, rom has been made. 6 help ul distinction by Bon Wilhelm% Y" 6789:;" Conce!tualizing Metaethics $ A Commentary on Prinz" In ," Metzinger < +" M" Win t 65 s;" Open MIND: =86C;" -rankfurt am Main' MIN/ 2rou!" oi' 98"9::87>?@A=?:A:@8BA? 2 | ? ###"o!en$min "net *resan will then show that there are actually mentalism. Dven i all our ordinary moral )udg- two kinds of internalist theses at play here. ments are based on emotions, it could still be 4nly one of these is really relevant or Prinz’s possible to )udge dispassionately !Prinz this col- naturalized metaethics, I shall argue. The ob)ec- lection, p. &5'. *here ore the evidence doesn’t tion then loses its orce in light of Prinz’s pro- support sentimentalism. )ect of a naturalistic methodology. The following Prinz answers that the empirical evidence reasoning can also be seen as a small case study gives us enough reason to in er that we cannot in recent (naturalized' metaethics. make moral )udgments without emotions: *he irst question in Prinz’s decision tree -Dvery study suggests that emotions arise when is whether moral )udgments are essentially af- we make moral )udgments.
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