B Skepticism About Morality

1/30/25 Notes

Five Arguments for Being Skeptical about Morality

Psychological Egoism

Ethical Egoism

Subjective Relativism

Cultural Relativism

Error Theory

Psychological Egoism

Our sole motivation is the pursuit of self-interest

• denies that we can choose the

• interests of others as an end-in-itself

Ethical Egoism

We ought always to maximize our own self-interest

• denies that we ought to choose the interests of others as an end in-itself

Subjective Relativism

Personal preference is the sole standard of right and wrong

• denies that there is any objective basis for deferring to the moral judgments others

Cultural Relativism

The values of a particular culture are the sole standard of right and wrong

• denies that there is any objective basis for regarding the values one culture to better than another.

Error Theory

There is nothing about which moral judgments are true or false

Psychological Egoism: Lincoln and the Pigs

Lincoln only saves the pigs to save his future self from having regret, not because he thought saving the pigs was the right thing to do

• “I did it to get peace of mind, don’t you see?”

Psychological Egoists Explain Apparent Altruism

Argue that helping others is a means to an end, and that end is their own self-interest or well-being

Objections to Psychological Egoism: Lincoln and the PIgs

Lincoln says that he only helped pigs to protect his own “peace of mind”

but… the suffering of the pigs bothered him

• If an egoistic person is one who only cares about himself, then Lincoln is not egotistic, since he cares about the suffering of the pigs

Always Egoistic v. Only Egoistic

Even if every human action is motived by self-interest, doesn’t mean that every human action is motivated ONLY by self-interest.

Example: Doctors and Nurses. What are their motives? Earning money? but also desire to save lives and the health of other people

Daniel Batson

Conducted empirical experiments and thought experiments

• wanted to see whether egoistic or altruistic was more prevalent

• concluded that some people act for the sake of other people’s interest (altruistic)

Ayn Rand (1905-1982): Ethical Egoism

The Virtue of Selfishness

• Normative but not a psychological egoist

• Doesn’t believe people always act to ma their self-interest

“The proper method of judging whether one should help another person is by reference to one’s own rational self- interest and one’s own hierarchy of values: the time, money, or effort one gives or the risk one takes should be proportionate to the value of the person in”

Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

“the libertarian argument.”

Shafer-Landau

• moral duties have two sources: consent and reparation

• “any duty to aid another comes form out voluntarily agreeing to accept that duty or from our violating someone’s rights and so owing a duty to repair the wrong I have done”

Ted Bundy

• arguing that if moral values are purely subjective (based on personal or societal opinions), then there is no real basis for saying any action—even murder—is truly wrong

• if morality is purely subjective and socially constructed, then any act—even killing—can be justified if someone desires it.

Ted Bundy

• If morality is purely based on individual feelings, then no action—no matter how terrible—can be objectively condemned.

• The quote implies that education and reason alone (without moral principles) do not necessarily lead to ethical behavior.

Moral Blindness

Inability to see or recognize something is morally wrong, even when it is obvious to others

Cultural Relativism

Idea that moral values and beliefs are shaped by culture, and what is considered "right" or "wrong" can vary from one society to another.

Things to consider when talking about values of a culture

People in power

The majority

Disenfranchised minorities

Committed Separatists

Listen to the voice of the suffering

J.L. Mackie’s Error Theory

Argued that moral judgement are false

• false because the things that are said to be good or bad/ right or wrong do not have properties that they say they have

• Can not place wrong/right, good/bad properties on human action

“You never can find it [e.g. wrongness] till you

turn your affection into your own breast, and find

a sentiment of disapprobation, which arises in

you, towards this action. Here is a matter of fact;

but it is the object of feeling, not of reason. It

lies in your self, not in the object.”

David Hume’s Sentimentalism

David Hume’s Sentimentalism

Says that “wrongness” is found within yourself, it’s what you feel is wrong or bad

Plato’s Myth of Gyges

• Magical ring that can make you invisible

• Plato says that people will do things that are immoral if they can get away with it

Aristotle’s thought on Myth of Gyges

• Says that a virtuous life is the happiest life

• By making yourself more moral you are making yourself more happy