Evolutionary debunking arguments hold that because human moral beliefs and dispositions arose through evolutionary processes selected for their contribution to survival and reproduction rather than for tracking any independent moral truth, those beliefs cannot be trusted as reliable guides to objective moral facts, if any such facts exist. Proponents argue that the causal explanation evolutionary biology gives for why people hold the moral beliefs they do makes no reference to those beliefs actually being true, so the correlation between what people believe and what is genuinely right or wrong would be mere coincidence, undermining confidence in moral realism, the view that objective moral facts exist independently of human attitudes. Critics have replied that this reasoning proves too much or rests on a flawed picture of how evolutionary and rational influences on belief can be distinguished, and the soundness of the debunking strategy remains a live topic in metaethics.
Facts
Classification
Position Kind Connections
Associated With
Source Richard Joyce (philosopher) (Wikipedia)
Source Sharon Street (Wikipedia)
In Branch
Source Evolutionary debunking (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Evolutionary debunking (Wikipedia)
LeadQuote, Lead
An evolutionary debunking, sometimes referred to as an evolutionary debunking argument or evolutionary debunking thesis, is a
2. Moral Epistemology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Moral Epistemology, section 4.2 The Debunking Argument from Moral ObjectivismQuote, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Moral Epistemology, section 4.2 The Debunking Argument from Moral Objectivism
Sharon Street (2006) presses this dilemma with careful attention to possible replies.
Evolutionary Debunking Argument (Wikipedia)
WikipediaEvolutionary debunking argument (Wikipedia), introductionQuote, Evolutionary debunking argument (Wikipedia), introduction
An evolutionary debunking, sometimes referred to as an evolutionary debunking argument or evolutionary debunking thesis, is a philosophical argument which holds that, because humans (like all organisms) have an evolutionary origin, the principles of ethics and morality that we have devised are invalid and cannot be considered objective knowledge.
Richard Joyce (philosopher) (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Richard Joyce, Evolutionary debunkingQuote, Associated With: Richard Joyce, Evolutionary debunking
Joyce has developed and defended what has come to be known as an "evolutionary debunking argument," according to which the evolutionary origin of human moral thinking might give us cause to doubt our moral judgments.
Sharon Street (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Sharon Street, ResearchQuote, Associated With: Sharon Street, Research
Street's doctoral dissertation examined the metaethical implications of evolutionary biological explanations of our normative capacities, and whether such explanations might have an undermining effect on our moral and other normative commitments.
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