Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-sh8wx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T00:05:37.011Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Moral Explanation and Moral Realism

from Part III - Moral Knowledge and Normative Realism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2023

Robert Audi
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame, Indiana
Get access

Summary

The theory of moral perception presented in Chapter 8 presupposes moral realism. Moral realism is controversial. Moral rationalists have defended it by drawing an analogy between mathematical knowledge and moral knowledge. It is commonly thought that mathematical facts, such as theorems, play essential roles in scientific explanations and that this explanatory power supports realism regarding mathematical objects. Do purported moral facts, such as true moral principles, have comparable explanatory power? This chapter explores several kinds of explanatory roles apparently played by both moral facts and mathematical facts. In comparing these roles, the chapter shows how moral realism is supportable in ways that draw on an analogy between the explanatory roles of moral facts and counterpart roles played by both certain mathematical facts and certain facts in the physical realm. The case made for moral realism is compatible with the view that moral properties are “naturalizable” but does not require this.

Type
Chapter
Information
Of Moral Conduct
A Theory of Obligation, Reasons, and Value
, pp. 185 - 208
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×