Moral skepticism is at present a vibrant topic of philosophical inquiry. Particularly since the turn of the millennium, the debates between moral skeptics of various stripes and their opponents have gained renewed force not only by taking account of innovative ideas in moral philosophy, but also by drawing on novel positions in epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of language as well as on recent findings in empirical sciences. As a result, new arguments for and against moral skepticism have been devised, while the traditional ones have been reexamined. This collection of original essays will advance the ongoing debates about various forms of moral skepticism by discussing such topics as error theory, disagreement, constructivism, non-naturalism, expressivism, fictionalism, and evolutionary debunking arguments. It will be a valuable resource for academics and advanced students working in metaethics and moral philosophy more generally.
1. Moral Skepticism: An Introduction and Overview
Diego E. Machuca
2. Projection, Indeterminacy and Moral Skepticism
Hallvard Lillehammer
3. Error Theory, Relaxation and Inferentialism
Christine Tiefensee
4. Why We Really Cannot Believe the Error Theory
Bart Streumer
5. Are There Substantive Moral Conceptual Truths?
David Copp
6. The Phenomenology of Moral Authority
Terry Horgan & Mark Timmons
7. Arguments from Moral Disagreement to Skepticism
Richard Joyce
8. Evolutionary Debunking, Realism and Anthropocentric Metasemantics
Mark van Roojen
9. Moral Skepticism and the Benacerraf Challenge
Folke Tersman
10. Veneer Theory
Aaron Zimmerman
11. Moral Skepticism, Fictionalism, and Insulation
Diego E. Machuca
Biography
Diego E. Machuca is Researcher in Philosophy at CONICET (Argentina) and co-editor of the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism. He is also sole editor of Pyrrhonism in Ancient, Modern, and Contemporary Philosophy (2011), New Essays on Ancient Pyrrhonism (2011), and Disagreement and Skepticism (Routledge, 2013), and co-editor of two other volumes on skepticism.
"This book is a wonderful collection of essays related to moral skepticism . . . The essays are of a very high quality, written by a who's-who of philosophers doing exciting contemporary work in metaethics. They summarize the current state of the literature on moral skepticism and push that literature forward along many fronts . . . Any researcher interested in skeptical themes in metaethics will find this an invaluable resource . . . I recommend it strongly." – Matt Lutz in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
"The book will be most helpful for advanced students already acquainted with the debates it covers and eager to engage with recent developments. It will be essential reading for those suspicious of the apparent commitments of morality and wondering where that suspicion might take them." – Neil Sinclair in the International Journal for the Study of Skepticism