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Chapter 8 - Looking Back and Ahead

from Part III - Skepticism and a New Metaethical Position

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Marius Baumann
Affiliation:
Universität Munchen
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Summary

Chapter 8 concludes the book. I first consider two hypotheses about how we ended up with underdetermination in ethics. One hypothesis refers to advanced dialectics, that is, the way in which defenders of the main traditions have modified their theories in order to avoid counterexamples. The other hypothesis points to the method of reflective equilibrium and how methodological changes might have led to a convergence between the traditions. If correct, these hypotheses help alleviate some doubts about the fact that the analogy to science has only become relevant quite recently. Finally, I return to the puzzle and explain why I take the underdetermination view to offer the best answer to it. Two features make the underdetermination interpretation preferable to its alternatives. First, it can uphold a more plausible semantics, allowing us to take moral explanatory claims at face value. Second, it can uphold the adversarial spirit of the Textbook View, making it less of a miracle why this view has been accepted by a majority of ethicists.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/cclicenses/

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  • Looking Back and Ahead
  • Marius Baumann, Universität Munchen
  • Book: The Underdetermination of Moral Theories
  • Online publication: 14 March 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009492454.013
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  • Looking Back and Ahead
  • Marius Baumann, Universität Munchen
  • Book: The Underdetermination of Moral Theories
  • Online publication: 14 March 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009492454.013
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Looking Back and Ahead
  • Marius Baumann, Universität Munchen
  • Book: The Underdetermination of Moral Theories
  • Online publication: 14 March 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009492454.013
Available formats
×