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AN ARGUMENT AGAINST ETHICAL SUBJECTIVISM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2015

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Abstract

This article provides an argument against ethical subjectivism as a normative theory. It highlights how ethical subjectivism does not correspond with the phenomena of how we argue. Ethical subjectivism suggests that ethics is a matter of subjective preferences, but we do not usually enter into a serious debate on such matters. On the contrary, when we argue we believe that what we argue for is objectively true. This may pose a serious problem to an ethical subjectivist who holds that ethical conceptions are neither superior nor inferior to each other. The article also outlines the implications of the position of an ethical subjectivist and how they go against our deepest moral intuition that ‘might is not right’.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 2015 

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