Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-bp2c4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-17T21:35:52.071Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Skeptical hypotheses and moral skepticism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Joshua May
Joshua May*
Affiliation:
UAB Philosophy Dept. HB 425, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 900 13th St South, Birmingham AL 35294-1260,
*
*Email: joshmay@uab.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Moral skeptics maintain that we do not have moral knowledge. Traditionally they haven't argued via skeptical hypotheses like those provided by perceptual skeptics about the external world, such as Descartes' deceiving demon. But some believe this can be done by appealing to hypotheses like moral nihilism. Moreover, some claim that skeptical hypotheses have special force in the moral case. But I argue that skeptics have failed to specify an adequate skeptical scenario, which reveals a general lesson: such arguments are not a promising avenue for moral skeptics to take. They're ultimately weaker when applied to morality compared to perception.

Keywords

moral justificationskeptical scenariosdebunkingdisagreementa priori skepticism

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , 2013 , pp. 341 - 359
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2013

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Audi, Robert. 1997. Moral Knowledge and Ethical Character. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Beebe, James. 2010. “Constraints on Sceptical Hypotheses.” Philosophical Quarterly 60 (240): 449 – 470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beebe, James. 2011. “A Priori Skepticism.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 83 (3): 583 – 602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergmann, Michael. 2013. Radical, Moral, and Religious Skepticism. Manuscript in preparation.Google Scholar
Brueckner, Anthony. 1994. “The Structure of the Skeptical Argument.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 54 (4): 827 – 835.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burge, Tyler. 2003. “Perceptual Entitlement.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 67 (3): 503 – 548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke-Doane, Justin. Forthcoming. “Moral Epistemology: The Mathematics Analogy.” Noûs.Google Scholar
Doris, John M. 2009. “Skepticism About Persons.” Philosophical Issues 19 (1): 57 – 91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elga, Adam. 2007. “Reflection and Disagreement.” Noûs 41 (3): 478 – 502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Richard. 2003. Epistemology. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Gendler, Tamar Szabó. 2000. “The Puzzle of Imaginative Resistance.” Journal of Philosophy 97 (2): 55 – 81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, Richard. 2001. The Myth of Morality. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, Richard. 2006. The Evolution of Morality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
McGrath, Sarah. 2010. “Moral Knowledge and Experience.” In Oxford Studies in Metaethics: Vol. 6, edited by Shafer-Landau, R., 107 – 127. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McNaughton, David. 2008. “A Distinctively Moral Scepticism? ” Philosophical Books 49 (3): 207 – 217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Richard. 1985. “Ways of Moral Learning.” The Philosophical Review 94 (4): 507 – 556.Google Scholar
Nagel, Thomas. 1971. “The Absurd.” The Journal of Philosophy 68 (20): 716 – 727.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pryor, Jim. 2000. “The Skeptic and the Dogmatist.” Noûs 34 (4): 517 – 549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rescorla, Michael. 2009. “Epistemic and Dialectical Regress.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 87 (1): 43 – 60.Google Scholar
Shafer-Landau, Russ. 2003. Moral Realism: A Defence. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. 2006. Moral Skepticisms. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. 2008. “Replies to Dreier and McNaughton.” Philosophical Books 49 (3): 218 – 228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wedgwood, Ralph. 2010. “The Moral Evil Demons.” In Disagreement, edited by Feldman, R., and Warfield, T., 216 – 246. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimmerman, Aaron. 2010. Moral Epistemology. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar