RE: Can we trust our Moral Intuitions?
October 3, 2021 at 7:34 pm
(This post was last modified: October 3, 2021 at 8:05 pm by vulcanlogician.)
(October 3, 2021 at 7:07 pm)Spongebob Wrote: Doesn't this lead back to the question of objective morality?
Yes. It does. At the very least, it is criticism of those objectivist theories that rely on moral intuitions.
I'm going to post a more in depth analysis, but I didn't want a big confusing OP. I mostly just wanted to hear people's opinions on the subject.
This analysis I'm going to post later comes from Stephen Stich who uses empirical results from studies/experiments in cognitive psychology that show that our moral intuitions rely heavily on acquired norms. It's brilliant work. And he's very careful with his conclusions. His assessment casts serious doubt on the reliability of our moral intuitions. So he tends to be skeptical about moral objectivity.
What's your take on objective morality, Spongebob?
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This chart has @DLJ written all over it. I'd love to hear his input if he's interested.
The important bits are the solid lines connecting the various boxes. They show empirically verified connections. Proximal cues in the environment are causally related to our norms. These norms could be moral norms, but also cultural mores and customs. These norms in turn affect our emotional reaction to things (solid line) and our emotions influence our judgments (moral or otherwise). Therein lies the problem with moral intuitions. They are formed chiefly from environmental cues. That's not a moral foundation most philosophers are comfortable with.
This analysis is provided by Stephen Stich. I've listened to nearly 12 hours of lectures from him the past two weeks, and he is a brilliant analyst on this subject. I have many objections to his lines of thinking here, but this is already a lot to chew on, so I'll wait.
Stephen Stich Lectures (for any who are interested). They are excellent.