Subjective Moral Biases & Fallacies
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SUBJECTIVE MORAL BIASES & FALLACIES: DEVELOPING SCIENTIFICALLY & PRACTICALLY ADEQUATE MORAL ANALOGUES OF COGNITIVE HEURISTICS & BIASES Mark Herman 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 May 2019 Committee: Sara Worley, Advisor Richard Anderson Graduate Faculty Representative Theodore Bach Michael Bradie Michael Weber ii ABSTRACT Sara Worley, Advisor In this dissertation, I construct scientifically and practically adequate moral analogues of cognitive heuristics and biases. Cognitive heuristics are reasoning “shortcuts” that are efficient but flawed. Such flaws yield systematic judgment errors, cognitive biases. For example, the availability heuristic infers an event’s probability by seeing how easy it is to recall similar events. Since dramatic events like airplane crashes are disproportionately easy to recall, this heuristic explains systematic overestimations of their probability (availability bias). The research program on cognitive heuristics and biases (e.g., Daniel Kahneman’s work) has been scientifically successful and has yielded useful error-prevention techniques, cognitive debiasing. I attempt applying this framework to moral reasoning to yield moral heuristics and biases. For instance, a moral bias of unjustified differences in animal-species treatment might be partially explained by a moral heuristic that dubiously infers animals’ moral status from their aesthetic features. While the basis for identifying judgments as cognitive errors is often unassailable (e.g., per violating laws of logic), identifying moral errors seemingly requires appealing to moral truth, which, I argue, is problematic within science. Such appeals can be avoided by repackaging moral theories as mere “standards-of-interest” (a la non-normative metrics of purportedly right- making features/properties). However, standards-of-interest do not provide authority, which is needed for effective debiasing. Nevertheless, since each person deems their own subjective morality authoritative, subjective morality (qua standard-of-interest and not moral subjectivism) satisfies both scientific and practical concerns. As such, (idealized) subjective morality grounds iii a moral analogue of cognitive biases, subjective moral biases (e.g., committed non-racists unconsciously discriminating). I also argue that cognitive heuristic is defined by its contrast with rationality. Consequently, heuristics explain biases, which are also so defined. However, this property is causally-irrelevant to cognition. This frustrates heuristic’s presumed usefulness in causal explanation, wherein categories should be defined by causally-efficacious properties. As such, in the moral case, I jettison this role and tailor categories solely to contrastive explanations. As such, “moral heuristic” is replaced with subjective moral fallacy, which is defined by its contrast with subjective morality and explains subjective moral biases. The resultant subjective moral biases and fallacies framework can undergird future empirical research. iv To my grandmother, mother, and father for all their unwavering support. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support and guidance of many people. First, I would like to thank my committee: Michael Weber, Michael Bradie, Theodore Bach, Richard Anderson, and especially, my advisor Sara Worley, who has been a great teacher, mentor, and friend over these many years. My thanks to Margy Deluca for all her tireless help. I’d also like to thank two special friends and philosophical interlocuters, Peter Jaworski and Scott Simmons. Most of all, I would like to thank my grandmother, mother, and father for all their love and unwavering support. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 1. Objective: Developing Moral Analogues of Cognitive Heuristics and Biases ...... 1 2. Potential Examples................................................................................................. 7 3. Plausibility ............................................................................................................ 10 3.1. Per Capacities & Processes ..................................................................... 11 3.2. Per Paradigm Applications ..................................................................... 15 4. Potential Benefits ................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND ............................................................................................ 21 1. Cognitive Psychology’s (Default) Explanatory Paradigm ..................................... 21 2. Cognitive Heuristics & Biases ............................................................................... 35 2.1. Strong-DRCT .......................................................................................... 35 2.2. Weak-DRCT ........................................................................................... 39 2.3. Heuristics & Biases ................................................................................. 41 2.4. Representativeness Heuristic .................................................................. 44 2.5. The Linda Problem ................................................................................. 46 3. Judgments/Decisions/Actions ................................................................................ 51 CHAPTER 3: ADAPTING ‘COGNITIVE HEURISTIC’ .................................................... 57 1. Worry: Is ‘Cognitive Heuristic’ an Adequate Basis for a Moral Analogue? ......... 57 2. Does the Kind, Cognitive Heuristic, Make a Causal Explanatory Contribution? . 59 2.1. Is SCIRA a Causally-Efficacious Property? ........................................... 62 2.2. Is the Cognitive System Directly-Sensitive to SCIRA? ......................... 63 vii 2.3. Is the Cognitive System Indirectly-Sensitive to SCIRA? ....................... 65 3. Is Cognitive Heuristic an Objective Kind? ............................................................ 71 3.1. System-Intrinsic Objectivity ................................................................... 72 4. Does the Kind, Cognitive Heuristic, Contribute to Why-Have Explaining? ......... 75 4.1. Selection per SCIRA via the But-For Condition?................................... 76 4.2. Selection per SCIRA via SCIRA-Score? ................................................ 79 5. Does the Kind, Cognitive Heuristic, Contribute to Explaining Cognitive Biases? 82 6. Conjuncts of SCIRA .............................................................................................. 91 7. ‘Moral Fallacy’ ...................................................................................................... 97 CHAPTER 4: ADAPTING ‘COGNITIVE BIAS’ ................................................................ 99 1. Worry: Scientifically-Admissible Moral Standard? .............................................. 99 1.1. Adapt Ideal-Theoretical-Rationality? ..................................................... 101 1.2. Adapt A Posteriori Knowledge? ............................................................. 105 2. Viable Solution: Ideal Instrumental Moral Rationality ......................................... 106 2.1. Independence from the True, Best, and/or Real Morality ...................... 110 3. Subjective Moral Error .......................................................................................... 114 3.1. Idealization .............................................................................................. 116 3.2. Extensional Adequacy & Non-Alienation .............................................. 118 3.3. Counterfactual Endowments ................................................................... 120 3.4. Two-Tiered Subjective Idealization ........................................................ 129 4. Why Subjective Morality? ..................................................................................... 132 4.1. Species of Instrumental Rationality ........................................................ 132 4.2. The Best Standard for the MBF Program ............................................... 134 viii 4.3. Subjective Morality and Moral Improvement......................................... 138 CHAPTER 5: CLOSING REMARKS .................................................................................. 142 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 147 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Victor metal pedal rat trap M200 ........................................................................... 25 x LIST OF ACRONYMS CHB ..................................................................................... Cognitive heuristics and biases MHB .......................................................................................... Moral heuristics and biases MBF ............................................................................................. Moral biases and fallacies SMBF ......................................................................... Subjective moral biases and fallacies SCIRA ...................................................... Shortcut-vis-à-vis-the-ideally-rational-algorithm MEIRA ............................................