ROBUST ETHICAL REALISM AND THE MORAL COINCIDENCE PROBLEM

I present an objection to robust ethical realism, the view that there are mind-independent moral facts with normative import. I argue that if we combine robust ethical realism with a traditional conception of morality, according to which persons are especially relevant from a moral point of view, th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Vogelmann, Rafael Graebin
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPEL)
Repositorio:Dissertatio - Revista de Filosofia (Online)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.ufpel:article/21673
Acceso en línea:https://periodicos.ufpel.edu.br/index.php/dissertatio/article/view/21673
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Normative realism
moral realism
non-naturalism
persons
coincidence.
Realismo normativo
realismo moral
não-naturalismo
pessoas
coincidência.
Descripción
Sumario:I present an objection to robust ethical realism, the view that there are mind-independent moral facts with normative import. I argue that if we combine robust ethical realism with a traditional conception of morality, according to which persons are especially relevant from a moral point of view, the result is that there is a remarkable coincidence between the content of normative facts and the kind of beings that actually exist. On the one hand, the normative facts single out persons as anespecially relevant kind of being and, on the other hand, persons happen to exist. This match amounts to a coincidence because, according to robust ethical realism, normative facts cannot explain why there are persons and the fact that there are persons cannot explain why the normative facts are what they are. To the extent that commitment to unexplained coincidences counts against a view, robust ethical realism faces a problem. Although there are important similarities between this objection and other objections to normative realism that appeal to remarkable coincidences (such as Street’s evolutionary debunking argument and Bedke’s cosmic coincidence argument), I argue that the moral coincidence poses a different problem for robust ethical realism.