July 30, 2003

Ethical naturalism redux

Posted by Chris

In a comment to one of Brian’s earlier posts on ethical naturalism, I mentioned that Jerry Cohen’s argument that ethics must (ultimately) depend on fact-insensitive principles seemed to me to threaten the naturalist position (at least as Brian had formulated it). Larry Solum - who started this whole conversation - now has an extensive discussion of Cohen’s view (scroll down) as expressed in the latest Philosophy and Public Affairs. Larry thinks that even if Cohen is right, an Aristotelian naturalism might survive. I’m not sure what to think about that yet. One thing worth noticing about Cohen’s view is that even though most of the discussion is about ethics, it applies to normative principles quite generally. This being so, it ought to apply to such principles in other domains (including epistemology and the theory of rational action) and that if it threatens naturalism in ethics it also threatens naturalistic programmes in those areas.

Posted on July 30, 2003 11:16 AM UTC
Comments

It looks to me to have a distinct flavour of Lewis Carroll’s argument in “Achilles and the Tortoise” which showed that in mathematical logic, inference rules have to be on a separate logical level from axioms.

Posted by dsquared · July 30, 2003 02:47 PM

GAC thinks he avoids what Achilles says to the tortoise, and what he (Jerry) says seems roughly plausible to me. But I think there’s actually a naturalist response to GAC that mimics the rhetorical structure of his “facts and principles” conjecture, and forces GAC to take some stands on the metaethical issues he claims to be indifferent towards. More on this later.

Posted by Loren · July 30, 2003 06:50 PM

Just to be clear; I think it would be a good thing if GAC’s argument mirrored the Achilles one, because I think that one’s rock-solid.

Posted by dsquared · July 30, 2003 07:25 PM
Followups

→ Proving Too Much.
Excerpt: It's been a while since we've had a real philosophy post here (I've graduated, etc.), but via Lawrence Solum I see Chris Betram responding to a Gerald Cohen article thusly:One thing worth noticing about Cohen’s view is that even though...Read more at Matthew Yglesias
→ Ethical naturalism.
Excerpt: Here is a list of links for anyone (i.e. me) interested in navigating the discussion of ethical naturalism at Crooked Timber. Original post Redux by Chris Redux by Brian Commentary on G. Cohen article Brian's closing thoughts Jon on Cohen...Read more at Sappho's Breathing
→ Ethical naturalism.
Excerpt: Here is a list of links for anyone (i.e. me) interested in navigating the discussion of ethical naturalism at Crooked Timber. Original post by Brian Weatherson Redux by Chris Bertram Redux by Brian Chris' commentary on G. Cohen article, "Facts...Read more at Sappho's Breathing

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.