On experiencing moral properties

Synthese 198 (1):315-325 (2021)
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Abstract

Do we perceptually experience moral properties like rightness and wrongness? For example, as in Gilbert Harman’s classic case, when we see a group of young hoodlums pour gasoline on a cat and ignite it, can we, in the same robust sense, see the action’s wrongness?. Many philosophers have recently discussed this question, argued for a positive answer and/or discussed its epistemological implications. This paper presents a new case for a negative answer by, first, getting much clearer on how such experience could be possible at all; second, responding to the only argument for a positive answer; and, finally, arguing that postulation of such experience is explanatorily redundant.

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Author's Profile

Indrek Reiland
University of Vienna

Citations of this work

Attentional Moral Perception.Jonna Vance & Preston J. Werner - 2022 - Journal of Moral Philosophy 19 (5):501-525.
Moral perception.Preston J. Werner - 2020 - Philosophy Compass 15 (1):e12640.
Perceptual learning.Zoe Jenkin - 2023 - Philosophy Compass 18 (6):e12932.

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References found in this work

Action in Perception.Alva Noë - 2004 - MIT Press.
The Contents of Visual Experience.Susanna Siegel - 2010 - , US: Oxford University Press USA.
Intuition.Elijah Chudnoff - 2013 - New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Perception and Basic Beliefs: Zombies, Modules and the Problem of the External World.Jack C. Lyons - 2009 - New York, US: Oxford University Press. Edited by Jack Lyons.

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