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Three Problems with Metaethical Minimalism

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Metaethical minimalism. sometimes called quietism, is the view that first-order moral judgments can be true but nothing makes them true. This article raises three worries for that view. First, minimalists have no good reason to insist that moral judgments can be true. Second, minimalism, in abandoning the requirement that true judgments need to have truthmakers, leads to a problematic proliferation of truths. Third, most versions of minimalism entail a disjointed and therefore unacceptable theory of language and thought.
Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)125-131
JournalSouthwest Philosophy Review
Volume34
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2018

Keywords

  • metaethics
  • quietism
  • Richard Rorty
  • Hilary Putnam
  • alethic pluralism
  • truthmakers
  • T.M. Scanlon

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