Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T13:52:09.629Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Critique of the Naturalistic Fallacy Thesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Jan Tullberg  and
Birgitta S. Tullberg
Jan Tullberg
Affiliation:
Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden
Birgitta S. Tullberg
Affiliation:
University of Stockholm, Sweden
Get access

Abstract

If the prescriptive “ought” is separated from the factual “is,” an intellectual analysis of the real world is by definition without normative value. The naturalistic fallacy thesis—maintaining that normative and descriptive spheres must remain separated—is often presented in a weak sense that seems reasonable. However, only in a strong sense—by strictly separating facts and values—are fallacy accusations supported. We claim that this naturalistic fallacy thesis is unsound and that normative statements instead should be based on rational understanding as found in the Darwinian and social sciences. The Cartesian compromise should be abandoned, since only naturalism can provide a cogent framework for better understanding and support ethics with a solid foundation. Many people nurture values based on tradition, whim, subgroup identification etc., and they demand respect for those values. However, we can demand respect for values only when they have a rational foundation. The common belief in the thesis of naturalistic fallacy is an anti-intellectual device that shields values from rational inquiry.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , September 2001 , pp. 165 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, R. (1987). The Biology of Moral Systems. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Arnhart, L. (1998). Darwinian Natural Right—The Biological Ethics of Human Nature. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Bacon, F. ([1600]1975). Advancement of Learning II. London: Athlone.Google Scholar
Barrett, J. (1991). “Really Taking Darwin and the Naturalistic Fallacy Seriously.” Biology and Philosophy 6:433–37.Google Scholar
Beckstrom, J. (1993). Darwinism Applied: Evolutionary Paths to Social Goals. London: Praeger.Google Scholar
Binmore, K. (1998). Game Theory and the Social Contract Volume 2. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Darwin, C. (1981). The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flew, A. (1967). Evolutionary Ethics. London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Hume, D. ([1740] 1973). A Treatise of Human Nature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hume, D. ([1777] 1992). Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Huxley, T.H. (1894). Evolution and Ethics. London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Kant, I. (1983). Ethical Philosophy. Indianapolis: Hackett.Google Scholar
Luther, M. (1569). Table Talk. Edited by Tappert, T.Philadelphia: Fortress.Google Scholar
Maclntyre, A. (1981). After Virtue. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press,.Google Scholar
Mackie, J. (1977). Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Masters, R. (1989). The Nature of Politics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Masters, R. (1993). Beyond Relativism: Science and Human Values. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.Google Scholar
Mayo, B. (1986). The Philosophy of Right and Wrong. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Moore, G.E. ([1903] 1948). Principia Ethica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,.Google Scholar
Richards, R. (1987). Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behaviour. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rottschaefer, W.A. (1991). “Evolutionary Naturalistic Justifications of Morality: A Matter of Faith and Works.” Biology and Philosophy 6:341–49.Google Scholar
Royce, J. (1892). The Spirit of Modern Philosophy. New York: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Ruse, M. (1986). Taking Darwin Seriously. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Russell, B. (1961). History of Western Philosophy. London: George Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Rutherford, J.H. (1992). The Moral Foundation of United States Constitutional Democracy. Pittsburg, PA: Dorrance Publishing.Google Scholar
Sjöberg, L. and Montgomery, H. (1999). “Double Denial in Attitude Formation.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 29:606–21.Google Scholar
Sober, E. (1993). Philosophy of Biology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stein, G.J. (1987). “The Biological Bases of Ethnocentrism, Racism and Nationalism in National Socialism.” In Reynolds, V., Falger, V., and Vine, I. (eds.), The Sociobiology of Ethnocentrism: Evolutionary Dimensions of Xenophobia, Discrimination, Racism and Nationalism. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Taylor, R. (1979). Good and Evil. London: Collier Macmillan.Google Scholar
Thomson, J. J. (1990). “The No Reason Thesis.” In Frankel, P. et al. (eds.), Foundation of Moral and Political Philosophy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
de Waal, F. (1996). Good Natured-The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Weber, M. ([1904] 1968). “Die Objektivität Sozialwissenschaftlicher und Sozialpolitischer Erkenntnis.” In Winkelmann, J. (ed.), Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslebre. Tübingen: Mohr.Google Scholar
Wilson, E.O. (1975). Sociobiology. Cambridge MA: Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Williams, B. (1985). Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. London: Fontana Press.Google Scholar