Disagreement over moral issues is not uncommon and usually is not considered an obstacle in the search for the right solutions. Differences among individuals’ moral beliefs can be explained by the application of different non-moral facts, i.e., by different epistemology. Some ethicists believe that such a problem is not for ethics to solve. This paper aims to show that this conviction is mistaken, as moral and epistemological aspects present two sides of the same coin. Although on the moral level, one might be optimistic and hope for finding an agreement with peers based on relevant argumentation, on the epistemological level, such optimism is impossible. The main reason is deep disagreement, which occurs sooner or later when solving controversial moral dilemmas. The paper tries to explain how certain types of deep disagreement might be normatively solved within the framework of naturalized ethics.
Intuitionism had been one of the most prominent ethical approaches over two hundred years, especially on the British Isles. In the first third of the 20th century it started losing its power; however, in the last few years several philosophers have been trying to renew this approach, which has made it one of the most discussed topics of contemporary meta-ethics. Intuitionism is a foundationalist approach which regards basic moral beliefs, i.e., intuitions, as self-evident. Nonetheless, modern intuitionists have to cope with empirical evidence which shows that intuitions are not as reliable a source of moral knowledge as would be necessary in this case. The aim of the paper is to present and discuss contemporary critique of intuitionism. First, I introduce intuitionism and its basic assumptions, both ontological and epistemological. Second, I focus on the criticism itself, especially on its empirical aspects concerning the role and the reliability of intuitions. As some of the proponents of intuitionism try to react to these objections and create a less flawed version of this approach, in the third part, I describe one of these attempts, i.e., Michael Huemer’s revisionary intuitionism. Finally, I try to explain why intuitionism – despite these efforts – remains a problematic approach and why ethics might be better off without it.
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