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Arts and Humanities Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Philosophy

University of Missouri, St. Louis

Theses/Dissertations

2017

Evolutionary theory

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The Epistemic Status Of Moral Conceptual Truths, Kara D. Boschert Apr 2017

The Epistemic Status Of Moral Conceptual Truths, Kara D. Boschert

Theses

Evolutionary debunking arguments assume that morality could, conceptually speaking, be about anything. A response to this contention is that there are some moral conceptual truths which counter assertions that we could be in error about basic moral truths. According to proponents of moral conceptual truths, some things, by definition, cannot count as moral. Putative moral conceptual truths, such as “stealing is wrong,” are thought to enjoy a privileged epistemic status because anyone who denies them forfeits their ability to engage in competent moral reasoning. This paper explores whether moral conceptual truths can offer a satisfactory response to the debunkers’ premise …