[ExI] The empirical case for moral realism

[Robin D Hanson]

On Oct 26, 2015, at 2:08 AM, Dan TheBookMan <danust2012 at gmail.com<mailto:danust2012 at gmail.com>> wrote:

http://www.springer.com/home?SGWID=0-0-1003-0-0&aqId=2941728&download=1&checkval=52a74c65fd122f4c0ad01dab4c427fb4&wt_mc=internal.event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst

Abstract: "Debunking skeptics claim that our moral beliefs are formed by processes unsuited to identifying objective facts, such as emotions inculcated by our genes and culture; therefore, they say, even if there are objective moral facts, we probably don’t know them. I argue that the debunking skeptics cannot explain the pervasive trend toward liberalization of values over human history, and that the best explanation is the realist’s: humanity is becoming increasingly liberal because liberalism is the objectively correct moral stance."

And Huemer means by liberalism a sort of broad approach moral equality (in other words, no double standards), respect for individuals, and restraints on violence/coercion.

Thanks for the pointer; I blogged about the article here:
http://www.overcomingbias.com/2015/10/testing-moral-progress.html
(The author responded some in comments.)

Robin Hanson  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Res. Assoc., Future of Humanity Inst., Oxford Univ.
Assoc. Professor, George Mason University
Chief Scientist, Consensus Point
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20151028/892a07b2/attachment.html>