The Is-Ought Problem, the Open Question Argument, and the new science of morality

• Authors: Radim Bělohrad
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The article deals with a recent attack by Sam Harris on two famous arguments that purport to establish a gap between factual and evaluative statements-Hume’s Is-Ought Problem and Moore’s Open Question Argument. I present the arguments, analyze the relationship between them and critically assess Harris’ attempt to refute them. I conclude that Harris’ attempt fails.

Keywords

EN

is-ought; open question argument; Harris; science; a priori

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Human Affairs
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 262-271

Dates

published

2011-09-01

online

2011-09-22

Contributors

author

Radim Bělohrad

• Masaryk University

References

• [1] Greene, J. (2002). The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Truth about Morality and What To Do about It. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University.
• [2] Haidt, J. (2001). The Emotional Dog and its Rational Tail: A Social Intuitionist Approach to Moral Judgment. Psychological Review 108(4), 814–834. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.108.4.814[Crossref]
• [3] Harris, S. (2010). The Moral Landscape. How Science Can Determine Human Values. New York: Free Press.
• [4] Harris, S. (2004). Letter to a Christian Nation. Vintage Books.
• [5] Hume, D. (2003). A Treatise of Human Nature. Available at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4705 [24.6.2011].
• [6] Leopold, A. (2005). The Land Ethic. In Olen, J., Van Camp, J. C., Barry, V. (Eds.). Applying Ethics. 8th edition. Wadsworth, pp. 501–510.
• [7] Moore, G. E., Baldwin, T. (1993). Principia Ethica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• [8] Parfit, D. (1986). Reasons and Persons. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• [9] The Science Network. Can Science Tell Us Right from Wrong? The Great Debate Panel. Available at http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/the-great-debate/the-great-debate-panel-1 [24.6.2011].
• [10] Stanovisko pracovníků Centra pro výzkum biodiverzity k otázce regulace kůrovcové gradace v Šumavském národním parku. Available at http://www.avcr.cz/miranda2/export/sitesavcr/data.avcr.cz/sys/galerie-download/kurovec.pdf. [24.6.2011].

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/s13374-011-0027-3