DOCSLIB.ORG

Moral Objectivity, Autonomy, and Reasons: the Constructivist Challenge to Realism

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Moral Objectivity, Autonomy, and Reasons: the Constructivist Challenge to Realism MORAL OBJECTIVITY, AUTONOMY, AND REASONS: THE CONSTRUCTIVIST CHALLENGE TO REALISM A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Nathaniel Nelson Jezzi May 2011 © 2011 Nathaniel Nelson Jezzi MORAL OBJECTIVITY, AUTONOMY, AND REASONS: THE CONSTRUCTIVIST CHALLENGE TO REALISM Nathaniel Nelson Jezzi, Ph. D. Cornell University 2011 This dissertation defends realist views in ethics against arguments advanced by ethical constructivists. Realists think that ethical truth obtains independently of any preferred perspective. That is, it is at bottom independent of whatever beliefs, desires, or other forms of commitment we have. Constructivists, in contrast, deny this. But this could mean different things, and there is currently no consensus on what constructivism involves exactly or how we ought to understand this dispute. Consequently, it has been difficult to evaluate the merits of constructivist arguments. This work attempts to remedy these deficiencies by developing a framework for both interpreting and evaluating the nature and scope of the constructivist’s challenge. In the first two chapters, I address some of the larger interpretative disputes. In Chapter 1, I argue that there are two main ways of understanding constructivism. Each of these corresponds to the rejection of a particular commitment of realism. In Chapter 2, however, I argue that neither of these should be understood as representing a free- standing view in metaethics. Rather, each takes aim at a narrower target: viz., the realist’s conception of ethical objectivity. The first type of constructivist challenge rejects realist claims about the nature of ethical objectivity; the second type accepts these but rejects claims about it scope. In the final three chapters, I evaluate these two versions of the challenge. In Chapter 3, I argue that if the constructivist rejects all stance-independent ethical truth, she commits herself to absurd results within ethical theory. This prompts me to consider more modest constructivist theses, ones that allow for some stance- independent ethical truths but that also significantly restrict the scope that such truths play within an ethical theory. In Chapters 4 and 5, however, I argue that the best arguments for this more modest constructivism also fail because the ethical considerations they appeal to – i.e., moral rationalism and autonomy – can be equally accommodated by a robust moral realism. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Nathaniel Jezzi received his B.A. in Government with a concentration in Political Philosophy from Georgetown University in 1998. From 2000-2003, he studied Philosophy, Sociology, and Greek Philology in Berlin, Germany at both the Humboldt Universität and Freie Universität. In 2003, he began his graduate studies in the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University. He received his M.A. in Philosophy from Cornell University in 2007. He has taught at Cornell University, the Elmira Correctional Facility, and the University of Aberdeen. He currently lives in Scotland. iii For Katie iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to all of the people who have helped with this project. I am particularly indebted to my advisor Nicholas Sturgeon, not only for his many probing questions and helpful comments, but also for his patience and generosity. His rigor, clarity, and integrity of thought have been a model for me. I have surely failed to match these high standards. But, to the extent that this work shares in these qualities, it is in large part due to his influence. I am also very much indebted to the other three members of my committee – Terence Irwin, Matti Eklund, and Michelle Kosch – for their support and advice. The idea for this project developed during my third-year tutorial with Terry. He allowed me the space to find my own questions and gave me the confidence to pursue them. Matti commented on every draft along the way and pushed me to think harder and deeper on a host of topics. Michelle was the last to join the team. She has been a booster, as well as an honest and incisive critic. I owe her, along with the rest of my committee, so much more than I am able to express here. I have also benefited incredibly from my friends and fellow graduate students at Cornell. I am especially thankful for the comments and support of Jacob Klein, Raúl Saucedo, Daniel Koltonski, and Patrick Mayer. They read and commented on multiple drafts, often on very short notice, and offered much needed encouragement. I thank each of them for their patience and friendship. I would like to thank the Sage School of Philosophy for giving me the opportunity to pursue my graduate studies. I may not have been the most deserving of candidates, but I have certainly benefited from their generosity. The intellectual and social milieu of the Department enriched my life greatly. And, of course, I owe no small thanks to my family. My parents and two v brothers have been a constant source of support and inspiration. My wife, however, deserves more credit than anyone else for helping me across the finish line. She has been my closest friend and sharpest critic. It is to her that I devote this work. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Biographical Sketch iii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vii 1. The Constructivist’s Challenge 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Understanding Constructivism Against the Backdrop of Realism 6 1.3 Naturalistic Motivations 12 1.4 Motivations From Within Ethical Theory 15 1.5 Preserving the Challenge of Substantive Constructivism 18 1.6 Offending Realist Intuitions 28 1.7 The General Argumentative Strategy 31 2. Is Constructivism a Free-Standing Metaethical View? 34 2.1 Introduction 34 2.2 The Proceduralist Characterization 36 2.3 Constructivism as a Response Dependence View 39 2.4 The Standpoint Characterization 43 2.5 Problems for the Standpoint Characterization 52 2.6 Reframing the Challenge 61 3. Formal Constructivism and Considered Moral Judgments 64 3.1 Introduction 64 32. What is Formal Constructivism? 66 3.3 An Internal Challenge for Formal Constructivism 67 3.4 Two Kinds of Formal Constructivism 70 vii 3.5 The Failure of Formal Kantian Views 76 3.6 Is the Challenge Too Strong? 84 3.7 What if the Constructivist Rejects Moral Rationalism? 87 3.8 Conclusion 94 4. Normative Alienation and the Morality of Common Sense 98 4.1 Introduction 98 4.2 The Explanatory Challenge 102 4.3 The Argument from Moral Reasons 107 4.4 Rational Force: A Second Pass 114 4.5 Rational Force: A Third Pass 119 4.6 Rational Force: A Last Pass 124 4.7 Objection: Deliberation Without Construction 128 4.8 Conclusion 131 5. Autonomy and the Nature of Morality 132 5.1 Introduction 132 5.2 Some Preliminaries 137 5.3 What is Korsgaard’s Argument for SL? 139 5.4 My Strategy for Evaluating the Argument 142 5.5 Reconstructing Korsgaard’s Argument 143 5.6 Moral Agency and Responsibility 150 5.7 Two Incompatible Senses of Autonomy 158 5.8 Why Korsgaard’s Response Fails 161 5.9 Conclusion 164 Works Cited 168 viii CHAPTER 1 THE CONSTRUCTIVIST’S CHALLENGE 1.1. Introduction Human beings do all kinds of things. While some of these activities are trivial or accidental to our nature, others are central to our understanding of what it is to be human. Ethical practice is arguably one of these. As ethical creatures, we engage in certain characteristic activities: We value things. We take some actions to be wrong and some to be right. We also take some things to count as reasons for acting. There may be much debate about what the proper objects of these activities are, but it is not controversial that we engage the world in these ways. Human beings might have evolved to value quite different things or take different kinds of actions to be wrong or right or take slightly different features of the world to count as reasons for action. But a mature, healthy human being who failed to engage in any of these characteristic activities in any way would be a very strange creature indeed. The central question of this dissertation will be how we are to understand the relation between these activities and the nature of what ethical terms and expressions stand for.1 Although contemporary moral philosophy has generated a flourish of literature on this topic recently, the question is a very old one. It is arguably a version of the one that Plato entertains in his presentation of a dialogue between Socrates and 1 Here and throughout I use “ethical” to refer to a broad range of topics that are the concern of practical philosophy – including morality, value, and practical reason. 1 Euthyphro.2 There the topic is piety. Specifically, is something pious because the gods love it? Or do the gods love it because it is pious? Plato’s brief arguments in the dialogue have been interpreted in different ways and done little to quiet interest in these questions. In order to broaden the terms of the discussion, we may recast Euthyphro’s question in a “rough, secular paraphrase”.3 (i) Do we value things because they are valuable? Or do things have value because we value them? (ii) Do we take certain actions to be wrong (or right) because they are wrong (or right)? Or are these actions wrong (or right) because we take them to be so? (iii) Do we take certain features of the world to count as reasons for action because they are reasons? Or do these features count as reasons for action because we take them to be so? These are metaphysical questions.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Moral Fallibility and Moral Smugness
    This is a repository copy of Gibbardian Humility: Moral Fallibility and Moral Smugness. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/93155/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Lenman, J.W. (2014) Gibbardian Humility: Moral Fallibility and Moral Smugness. Journal of Value Inquiry, 48 (2). 235 - 245. ISSN 0022-5363 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-014-9420-6 Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version - refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher’s website. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ 1 1 Gibbardian Humility: Moral Fallibility and Moral Smugness This is my version of a paper published in The Journal of Value Inquiry 48, 2014, pp. 235-245. DOI 10.1007/s10790-014-9420-6. Please refer to the latter when quoting or citing Abstract Andy Egan objects to quasi-realism that quasi-realists are committed to a form of smugness: when confronted with cases of fundamental disagreement, the quasi-realist must see him/herself as immune to moral error in a way that others are not.
    [Show full text]
  • Law, Morality, and Everything Else: General Jurisprudence As a Branch of Metanormative Inquiry* David Plunkett and Scott Shapiro
    Law, Morality, and Everything Else: General Jurisprudence as a Branch of Metanormative Inquiry* David Plunkett and Scott Shapiro In this article, we propose a novel account of general jurisprudence by situating it within the broader project of metanormative inquiry. We begin by showing how general jurisprudence is parallel to another well-known part of that project, namely, metaethics. We then argue that these projects all center on the same task: explain- ing how a certain part of thought, talk, and reality fits into reality overall. Metalegal inquiry aims to explain how legal thought, talk, and reality fit into reality. General jurisprudence is the part of metalegal inquiry that focuses on universal legal thought, talk, and reality. The part of legal philosophy that is standardly known as general jurispru- dence is often glossed as the study of “the nature of law.” General juris- prudence isn’taboutthenatureofthelawoftheUnitedStates,theUnited Kingdom, or the Roman Empire; it is about the nature of law in general. In many contexts, this description helpfully conveys the gist of general juris- prudence. Taken literally, however, it is deeply misleading. * Earlier versions of this article were presented at Boston University, Dartmouth Col- lege, University of Girona, Luiss University, University of Michigan, The Ohio State Univer- sity, The University of Oxford, Stanford University, The University of Sydney, University College London, Uppsala University, and Yale University. Thanks to everyone who partic- ipated in those sessions. Thanks
    [Show full text]
  • A Weakly Pragmatic Defense of Authoritatively Normative Reasons
    NIHILISM AND ARGUMENTATION: A WEAKLY PRAGMATIC DEFENSE OF AUTHORITATIVELY NORMATIVE REASONS Scott Simmons A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2020 Committee: Michael Weber, Advisor Verner Bingman Graduate Faculty Representative Christian Coons Molly Gardner Sara Worley ii ABSTRACT Michael Weber, Advisor Global normative error theorists argue that there are no authoritative normative reasons of any kind. Thus, according to the error theory, the normative demands of law, prudence, morality, etc. are of no greater normative significance than the most absurd standards we can conceive of. Because the error theory is a radically revisionary view, theorists who accept it only do so because they maintain the view is supported by the best available arguments. In this dissertation, I argue that error theory entails that it is impossible that there are successful arguments for anything, thus defenses of error theory are in tension with the view, itself. My argument begins with the observation that it is natural to think a successful argument is one that gives us an authoritative normative reason to believe its conclusion. Error theory entails that there are no authoritative reasons to believe anything. What are arguments for error theory even supposed to accomplish? Error theorists may respond that their arguments are solely intended to get at the truth. I argue that this reply fails. One problem is that it cannot make sense of why in practice even error theorists still want evidence for the premises of sound arguments. Error theorists may try to capture the importance of evidence by appeal to our social norms or goals.
    [Show full text]
  • PHIL-100: Metaethics
    $ÜÕ!$ÜuÕ{ nTwÜ!MTu ü-Tv-ÏÊ-}ª: MeTaeThics Summer z§Ë@ — u{!: ˧: þam-Ëz:Ëþpm — WhiTe-Gravenor § Clark Donley — [email protected] ­!*u Mvv*CnM — MnC\Üu uÕ -*$Ü Ï Õn!MÜ ­ÜM!TüuTÕ Are There moral TruThs? If so, are They universal or relaTive? Is moraliTy merely an expression of, for example, our emoTions? Is God necessary for moraliTy? Can we undersTand and explain moraliTy from a purely scienTiûc or naTuralisTic poinT of view?Some of The mosT gripping quesTions in life are abouT The naTure and sTaTus of moraliTy itself. In conTemporary philosophy, These quesTions are cenTral To a ûeld known as “meTaeThics.” MeTaeThics aims To undersTand and To explain The naTure and grounds of moraliTy, moral discourse, and moral pracTice. In This course, sTudents will learn how To Think philosophically abouT meTaeThical quesTions and The answers conTemporary philosophers (such as ChrisTine Korsgaard, David Enoch, Sharon STreeT, JL Mackie, and oThers) have proposed To Them. Work for The course will include regular homework (such as shorT reading responses of Ë-z pages), a midTerm exam, a ûnal exam, and acTive parTicipaTion. No prior knowledge of meTaeThics is required. } uÜuM • _e companion TexT for This course is Andrew Fisher, MeTaeThics:An InTroducTion (Durham, UK: Acumen, z§ËË). IT provides a clear inTroducTion To conTemporary meTaeThics. •All oTher Texts will be made available elecTronically. Ë k !ÜnT!ÜÜuM *­ *MMÜMMÜu STudents will be assessed on The basis of The following (subjecTTo revision): ITem PercenTage MidTerm Exam z§% Final Exam z§% ParTicipaTion z§% Response Papers and Homework §% Exams. Exams will assess boTh conTenT knowledge and The philosophical skills TaughT in The course.
    [Show full text]
  • A Justification of the Evolutionary Debunking Argument
    A Justification of the Evolutionary Debunking Argument Duncan Wilson A thesis submitted for the degree of Masters of Arts in Philosophy The University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand March 2016 Abstract In recent decades the debate over the metaethical conclusion from the theory of evolution has intensified. Michael Ruse’s epistemological argument has been taken up by Richard Joyce, Guy Kahane and Sharon Street and formalised into the Evolutionary Debunking Argument: Causal Premise: Our evolutionary history explains why we have the moral beliefs we have. Epistemic premise: Evolution is not a truth-tracking process with respect to moral truth. Metaphysical Assumption: Objectivism gives the correct account of moral concepts and properties. Therefore, Moral Scepticism: None of our moral beliefs are justified. Moral realists have attempted to attack this argument through attacking any one of these premises. In this thesis I will argue that with slight modifications we can justify each of the premises of the EDA and construct a sound argument that will establish moral scepticism. I will justify the causal premise through an inference to the best explanation of the phenomena of moral belief relying on our best currently available empirical data. I will justify the epistemic premise by ruling out any potential relation between evolutionary forces and moral truth. The metaphysical assumption will be justified by turning it into an epistemological assumption and using a reconstruction of G. E. Moore’s Open Question Argument. This will allow us to recreate the EDA into a sound argument: Revised Causal Premise: Human moral judgements are unavoidably influenced by human evolutionary history.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    55 Duality Unresolved and Darwinian Dilemmas Anson Tullis Abstract: By using Sharon Street’s Darwinian Dilemma, Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and Peter Singer attempt to show that Sidgwick’s duality of practical reason, whereby an agent has equal reason to act in their own interests or act impartially for the benefit of all, is not actually a duality; rather, reasons for action are solely impartial due to the unreliability of intuitions favoring self-interested behavior. I argue that Lazari-Radek and Singer fail to accomplish their goal. I argue that Singer has previously provided an account of impartiality that makes it just as unreliable on the same grounds as self-interested tendencies. Sidgwick’s duality remains unresolved. In this paper, I argue that Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and Peter Singer’s attempt to discredit rational self-interest while defending utilitarianism fails.1 The authors set out to reanalyze Henry Sidgwick’s duality of practical reason in light of Sharon Street’s Darwinian Dilemma for Moral Realists.2 The authors’ conclusion is that, due to the obvious evolutionary explanation for self-interested behavior, intuitions for rational self-interest are unreliable. They then argue that impartiality, the rational basis of utilitarianism, has no evolutionary explanation that can cast intuitions for utilitarianism into doubt and that these intuitions are reliable. In part one, I provide a brief outline of the general evolutionary debunking argument. I then outline Street’s Darwinian Dilemma in particular, and I finish with Lazari-Radek and Singer’s strategy in “The Objectivity.” In part two, I review the claims Peter Singer makes about the origins of impartial reasoning and moral development in his book The Expanding Circle [TEC].3 In part three, I argue that the account in TEC contradicts the claims in “The Objectivity,” and parity of reasoning provides as much reason to be skeptical of the principle of utilitarianism as for rational self-interest.
    [Show full text]
  • The International Encyclopedia of Ethics
    Dear Contributors to the International Encyclopedia of Ethics, We have now reached an important milestone on the road to completing the International Encyclopedia of Ethics (IEE). We now have authors for all topics! Congratulations to everyone on this achievement, and thanks to you for your participation in this monumental project. Contracts are still in the process of being sent out contributors, but as of now all topics have authors assigned to them. This is by far the biggest and likely most important project I've worked on in my 11 years with Blackwell / Wiley-Blackwell. Attention to the importance of ethics is rapidly on the rise. In a host of professional settings and academic disciplines there are calls for improved awareness of and adherence to ethical standards, and a solid understanding of ethical theory continues to be an increasingly important part of education and professional training. I am very pleased to be involved in the creation of this comprehensive and authoritative resource, and I'm impressed by and grateful to everyone who has committed to bringing this unprecedented project off. We now enter a new phase in the publishing process. Because of the magnitude of this project, the press has to muster the energy of our production, marketing, and sales staffs at least 24 months before the encyclopedia will appear. That requires that we all work within a realistic but firm timetable for submission, review, and revision of entries. Everyone’s effort is required to bring this important work to fruition. So I urge, implore — and even beg — you to deliver your essays on time.
    [Show full text]
  • Naturalism and Normativity UFOP (June-July 2018)
    Naturalism and Normativity UFOP (June-July 2018) Luis R.G. Oliveira [email protected] University of Houston This course offers an introduction to metaethical naturalism and to some of its strengths and weaknesses. The primary texts and the course’s methodology will be representative of contemporary analytic philosophy, with their focus on the conceptual analysis of ethical discourse and on the logical evaluation of various arguments. Students will be evaluated on the basis of their reading comprehension and on the basis of a concluding writing project. All the texts, listed below, will be available in advance in pdf format. Students must be capable of reading, writing, speaking, and understanding English. Tentative Schedule Week 1: Introduction to Metaethics and Naturalism. Day 1 (18/06): Introduction to Metaethics 1. Alexander Miller (2013) “Introduction” in Alexander Miller Contemporary Metaethics: an Introduction. Polity Press: 22-35. 2. Jussi Suikkanen (2016) “Naturalism in Metaethics” in Kelly James Clark (ed.), Blackwell Companion to Naturalism. Wiley-Blackwell: 351-368. Day 2 (19/06): Non-Cognitivism and Nihilism 3. A.J. Ayer (1936) “Critique of Ethics” in Language, Truth, and Logic, chapter 6. Penguin Books. 4. J.L. Mackie (1977) “The Subjectivity of Values” in Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong, chapter 1. Penguin Books. Week 2: Realist Naturalism Day 3 (25/06): Non-Reductive Naturalism 5. Gilbert Harman (1977). “Ethics and Observation” in The Nature of Morality: An Introduction to Ethics, chapter 1. Oxford University Press. 6. Nicholas Sturgeon (1988) “Moral Explanations” in Geoffrey Sayre-McCord (ed.) Essays on Moral Realism. Cornell University Press: 229-255. Day 4 (26/06): Reductive Naturalism 7.
    [Show full text]
  • Metaphysical Problems for Quasi-Realism William Albuquerque University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
    University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2016 Earning the Right Means Paying the Costs: Metaphysical Problems for Quasi-Realism William Albuquerque University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Albuquerque, William, "Earning the Right Means Paying the Costs: Metaphysical Problems for Quasi-Realism" (2016). Theses and Dissertations. 1239. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/1239 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EARNING THE RIGHT MEANS PAYING THE COSTS: METAPHYSICAL PROBLEMS FOR QUASI-REALISM by William Albuquerque A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2016 ABSTRACT EARNING THE RIGHT MEANS PAYING THE COSTS: METAPHYSICAL PROBLEMS FOR QUASI-REALISM by William Albuquerque The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016 Under the Supervision of Professor Husi Quasi-realism is a metaethical program seeking to 'earn the right' to realist moral discourse without positing mind-independent moral properties and facts. However, Sharon Street argues that if quasi-realism successfully captures realist discourse, it will find itself equally susceptible to the same objections as ordinary moral realism. But although Street argues extensively that epistemological challenges will carry over to quasi-realism, more argumentation is necessary to establish that quasi-realism is also vulnerable to metaphysical challenges.
    [Show full text]
  • A Darwinian Dilemma for Realist Theories of Value
    Philosophical Studies (2006) 127:109À166 Ó Springer 2006 DOI 10.1007/s11098-005-1726-6 SHARON STREET A DARWINIAN DILEMMA FOR REALIST THEORIES OF VALUE 1. INTRODUCTION Contemporary realist theories of value claim to be compatible with natural science. In this paper, I call this claim into ques- tion by arguing that Darwinian considerations pose a di- lemma for these theories. The main thrust of my argument is this. Evolutionary forces have played a tremendous role in shaping the content of human evaluative attitudes. The chal- lenge for realist theories of value is to explain the relation be- tween these evolutionary influences on our evaluative attitudes, on the one hand, and the independent evaluative truths that realism posits, on the other. Realism, I argue, can give no satisfactory account of this relation. On the one hand, the realist may claim that there is no relation between evolutionary influences on our evaluative attitudes and inde- pendent evaluative truths. But this claim leads to the implau- sible skeptical result that most of our evaluative judgements are off track due to the distorting pressure of Darwinian for- ces. The realist’s other option is to claim that there is a rela- tion between evolutionary influences and independent evaluative truths, namely that natural selection favored ances- tors who were able to grasp those truths. But this account, I argue, is unacceptable on scientific grounds. Either way, then, realist theories of value prove unable to accommodate the fact that Darwinian forces have deeply influenced the content of human values. After responding to three objections, the third of which leads me to argue against a realist understand- ing of the disvalue of pain, I conclude by sketching how 110 SHARON STREET antirealism is able to sidestep the dilemma I have presented.
    [Show full text]
  • Nothing “Really” Matters, but That’S Not What Matters
    Draft of April 2013. Please do not cite without permission. Forthcoming in Does Anything Really Matter: Parfit on Objectivity, ed. Peter Singer (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Nothing “Really” Matters, but That’s Not What Matters Sharon Street New York University 1. Introduction Does anything really matter? The answer depends on what one means by “really.” If the question is whether anything really matters in Derek Parfit’s robustly attitude-independent sense, then I believe the answer is no, nothing really matters in that sense. Nothing matters, ultimately, independently of the attitudes of beings who take things to matter. To matter is to matter from the point of view of someone. Should this antirealist answer to the question disturb us? Parfit thinks that it should. He believes that to conclude that nothing really matters in his sense is to conclude that nothing matters, full stop. He believes that the only genuine alternative to his position is nihilism, more or less well disguised. This is a false choice, however, and the aim of this essay is to show why. Nothing “really” matters in Parfit’s robustly attitude-independent sense, but plenty of things matter. Moreover, plenty of things “really” matter if we allow, as I think we should, that existing independently of a subject’s point of view on the world is not the only way of being “real.” Normativity depends on the attitudes of beings who take things to matter, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Parfit does not wish to call his view a brand of realism about normativity, but I believe non-naturalist realism continues to be the least misleading term for it.1 In this essay, I will argue that Parfit’s defense of non-naturalist realism against metaphysical and epistemological objections in On What Matters is undermined by a failure to distinguish clearly enough between the claim that (1) There are reasons in the standard normative sense.
    [Show full text]
  • Durham Research Online
    Durham Research Online Deposited in DRO: 19 June 2018 Version of attached le: Accepted Version Peer-review status of attached le: Peer-reviewed Citation for published item: Cowie, Christopher (2018) 'Companions in guilt arguments.', Philosophy compass., 13 (11). e12528. Further information on publisher's website: https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12528 Publisher's copyright statement: This is the accepted version of the following article: Cowie, Christopher (2018). Companions in Guilt Arguments in Metaethics. Philosophy Compass, e12528, which has been published in nal form at https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12528. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving. Additional information: Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Durham University Library, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LY, United Kingdom Tel : +44 (0)191 334 3042 | Fax : +44 (0)191 334 2971 https://dro.dur.ac.uk Companions in Guilt Arguments in Metaethics Some metaethical arguments claim to undermine the good-standing of morality. Examples include arguments for moral scepticism or for an error theory of moral judgment.
    [Show full text]