Hume's Joke: Ignorance and Moral Judgment

22 Pages Posted: 8 Jul 2021

See all articles by Scott Scheall

Scott Scheall

Arizona State University, College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, Faculty of Social Science

Parker Crutchfield

AT Still University

Date Written: June 30, 2021

Abstract

Some authors have argued that the nature of one’s moral judgments are fixed foremost by their epistemic circumstances. Epistemic considerations constrain the moral judgments that persons make about their own actions and those of others. If decision-making proceeds from epistemic to other normative considerations, then a person’s judgments about moral behavior in some set of circumstances should vary with their knowledge and ignorance of these circumstances. In this study, we test this hypothesis. We conducted two experiments, both using MTurk to observe participants’ responses to trolley problems. In each experiment, degree of ignorance of consequences was manipulated. In the second experiment, we also compared the effect of ignorance upon moral judgment with that of personal force, a variable previously shown to influence moral judgment. Across the two experiments, we found broad support for the notion that what one knows determines their moral judgement. These findings provide empirical support for the armchair arguments that epistemic considerations are logically prior to normative considerations. They also suggest that previous research on the factors that influence moral judgment should be reviewed through the lens of the decision-makers’ knowledge and ignorance.

Keywords: knowledge, ignorance, moral judgment, trolley problem, personal force

Suggested Citation

Scheall, Scott and Crutchfield, Parker, Hume's Joke: Ignorance and Moral Judgment (June 30, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3877438 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3877438

Scott Scheall (Contact Author)

Arizona State University, College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, Faculty of Social Science ( email )

7001 E. Williams Field Rd.
Mesa, AZ 85212
United States

Parker Crutchfield

AT Still University ( email )

5850 E Still Circle
Mesa, AZ 85206
United States

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