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Chapter 3 - Parfit and the Case Study of Case Studies

from Part II - Underdetermination in Normative Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Marius Baumann
Affiliation:
Universität Munchen
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Summary

Chapter 3 is concerned with what is arguablythe most in-depth case study of moral underdetermination to date: Derek Parfit’s argument in On What Matters to the effect that the best versions of three of the most famous moral traditions arrive at the same verdicts about what matters. I start with some historical background, sketching how both J. S. Mill and Richard Hare challenged the assumption that Kantianism and consequentialism are necessarily incompatible. I then turn to Parfit.Since Parfit himself does not think of his project in terms of underdetermination, my argument here requires a two-step approach. First, I outline how Parfit challenges the Textbook View, focusing on his Convergence Argument. Second, I turn to the interpretation of these results. I discuss two interpretations that are suggested by Parfit’s writing, arguing that neither of them is convincing. I then argue that contra Parfit’s own understanding, the best way to think of the results of the Convergence Argument is in terms of moral underdetermination.If my argument is successful, the chapter thus introduces one very detailed and very prominent case study of moral underdetermination.

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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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