Is Morality Objective?
Dr. Richard Yetter Chappell
Lecturer in Philosophy
University of York
www.philosophyetc.net
Opening Poll
Do you lean towards thinking:
• morality is not objective?
• morality is objective?
Getting clear on the question - 1
●Normative vs descriptive “morality”
○ “Their morals differ from ours.”
Getting clear on the question - 1
●Normative vs descriptive “morality”
○ “Their morals differ from ours.”
Relevant question: not what norms do we
accept, but what norms ought we to accept?
Getting clear on the question - 2
●Circumstance-sensitivity
○ How different cultures show respect for the dead
○ Lying to the murderer at the door
Getting clear on the question - 2
●Circumstance-sensitivity
○ How different cultures show respect for the dead
○ Lying to the murderer at the door
Crucial question: What fundamental norms
ought we to accept?
Getting clear on the question - 3
●Cultural Relativism
vs. Cultural Command Theory
○ My doing X, and
○ Your doing X
might differ in moral status
if the circumstances are relevantly different.
Getting clear on the question - 3
●Cultural Relativism
vs. Cultural Command Theory
Crucial question: Does each particular token
action have some objective moral status (as,
e.g., permissible or impermissible)?
Assessing Relativism
When assessing the morality of S’s action, why
would the perspective of anyone other than S
be at all relevant?
⇒ Suggests the real challenge to objectivism is
not relativism but subjectivism: each person
may do as they personally please.
Assessing Subjectivism
● We don’t generally take ourselves to be morally
infallible.
● Hard for subjectivists to make sense of moral
deliberation and inquiry (what are we trying to work
out?)
● Only objectivism can make sense of open minded
discussion (in contrast to rhetorical bludgeoning) with
the shared aim of discovering the truth.
Are you a moral objectivist?
If you:
• approach ethics philosophically
• consider yourself fallible
• think you can learn from others
• think it really matters how we treat each
other, and what we do
Then probably, yes!
The Moral Case for Moral Objectivity
It seems morally important to recognize that:
• Respect for others is non-optional
• Real moral progress has been made (e.g.
abolition of slavery)
• There is further room for improvement
An example: Migration
Moral objectivity requires us to overcome selfinterested biases. E.g.
• Universalizability: could you endorse closed
borders if you were on the other side?
• The Veil of Ignorance: What policy would
you rationally choose if you didn’t know who
you were?
The Value of Tolerance
●Is tolerance objectively valuable?
○ (If not, then are illiberal violators of human rights
doing nothing wrong after all?)
The Limits of Tolerance
“This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral
pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn
women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property.
My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang
all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act
according to national customs.”
-- Sir Charles Napier
Closing Poll
Do you lean towards thinking:
• morality is not objective?
• morality is objective?