Moral Coherence and Value Pluralism
Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 2013
31 Pages Posted: 4 Sep 2013
Date Written: October 15, 2011
Abstract
This paper addresses the question of what value pluralism tells us about the pursuit of moral coherence as a method of moral reasoning. I focus on the status of the norm of ‘systematicity,’ or the demand that our principles be as few and as simple as possible. I argue that, given certain descriptive facts about the pluralistic ways we value, epistemic ways of supporting a systematicity norm do not succeed. Because it is sometimes suggested that coherence functions in moral reasoning as it does in scientific reasoning, my argument considers analogies and dis-analogies between moral reasoning and scientific reasoning.
Keywords: moral coherence, value pluralism, reflective equilibrium, systematicity, pluralism, Ross
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