Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T08:39:08.010Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Subjective versus Objective Moral Wrongness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2021

Peter A. Graham
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Summary

There is presently a debate between Subjectivists and Objectivists about moral wrongness. Subjectivism is the view that the moral status of our actions, whether they are morally wrong or not, is grounded in our subjective circumstances – either our beliefs about, or our evidence concerning, the world around us. Objectivism, on the other hand, is the view that the moral status of our actions is grounded in our objective circumstances – all those facts other than those which comprise our subjective circumstances. A third view, Ecumenism, has it that the moral status of our actions is grounded both in our subjective and our objective circumstances. After outlining and evaluating the various arguments both against Subjectivism and against Objectivism, this Element offers a tentative defense of Objectivism about moral wrongness.
Get access
Type
Element
Information
Online ISBN: 9781108588249
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 15 April 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berker, S. 2018. “The Unity of Grounding,” Mind, 127: 729–77.Google Scholar
Bykvist, K. 2009. “Objective versus Subjective Moral Oughts,” Uppsala Philosophical Studies, 57: 3965.Google Scholar
Cohen, Y. and Timmerman, T. 2016. “Moral Obligations: Actualist, Possibilist, or Hybridist?Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 94(4): 672–86.Google Scholar
Davidson, D. 1963. “Actions, Reasons, and Causes,” The Journal of Philosophy, 60(23): 685700.Google Scholar
Driver, J. 2012. “What the Objective Standard Is Good For,” Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics, 2: 2844.Google Scholar
Feldman, F. 1986. Doing the Best We Can. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar
Feldman, F. 2012. “True and Useful: On the Structure of a Two-Level Normative Theory,” Utilitas, 24(2): 151–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fine, K. 2012. “Guide to Ground,” in Correia, F. and Schnieder, B. (eds.), Metaphysical Grounding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 3780.Google Scholar
Fox, P. 2019. “Revisiting the Argument from Action Guidance,” Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, 15(3): 222–54.Google Scholar
Frankfurt, H. 1969. “Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility,” The Journal of Philosophy, 66(23): 829–39.Google Scholar
Goble, L. 1993. “The Logic of Obligation, ‘Better’ and ‘Worse’,” Philosophical Studies, 70: 133–63.Google Scholar
Goldman, H. S. 1976. “Dated Rightness and Moral Imperfection,” Philosophical Review, 85: 449–87.Google Scholar
Goldman, H. S. 1978. “Doing the Best One Can,” in Goldman, A. I. and Kim, J. (eds.), Values and Morals. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 185214.Google Scholar
Gowans, C. W. (ed.). 1987. Moral Dilemmas. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Graham, P. A. 2010. “In Defense of Objectivism about Moral Obligation,” Ethics, 121(1): 88115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, P. A. 2014. “A Sketch of a Theory of Moral Blameworthiness,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 88(2): 388409.Google Scholar
Graham, P. A. 2019. “An Argument for Objective Possibilism,” Ergo, 6(8): 217–47.Google Scholar
Graham, P. A. in press. “Two Arguments for Objectivism about Moral Permissibility,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy.Google Scholar
Greenspan, P. S. 1978. “Oughts and Determinism: A Response to Goldman,” Philosophical Review, 87: 7783.Google Scholar
Hedden, B. 2012. “Options and the Subjective Ought,” Philosophical Studies, 158(2): 343–60.Google Scholar
Howard-Snyder, F. 2005. “It’s the Thought That Counts,” Utilitas, 17(3): 265–81.Google Scholar
Hurka, T. 2019. “More Seriously Wrong, More Importantly Right,” Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 5(1): 4158.Google Scholar
Jackson, F. 1991. “Decision-Theoretic Consequentialism and the Nearest and Dearest Objection,” Ethics, 101(3): 461–82.Google Scholar
Jackson, F. and Pargetter, R. 1986. “Oughts, Options, and Actualism,” Philosophical Review, 95: 233–55.Google Scholar
Kiesewetter, B. 2011. “‘Ought’ and the Perspective of the Agent,” Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, 5(3): 124.Google Scholar
Kiesewetter, B. 2017. The Normativity of Rationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kolodny, N. and MacFarlane, J. 2010. “Ifs and Oughts,” The Journal of Philosophy, 107(3): 115–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koon, J. 2019. “Options Must Be External,” Philosophical Studies, 177(5): 1175–89.Google Scholar
Lehrer, K. 1968. “Cans without Ifs,” Analysis, 29: 2932.Google Scholar
Litland, J. E. 2013. “On Some Counterexamples to the Transitivity of Grounding,” Essays in Philosophy, 14(1): 1932.Google Scholar
Lockhart, T. 2000. Moral Uncertainty and Its Consequences. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lord, E. 2015. “Acting for the Right Reasons, Abilities, and Obligation,” Oxford Studies in Metaethics, 10: 2652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lord, E. 2017. “What You’re Rationally Required to Do and What You Ought to Do (Are the Same Thing!),” Mind, 126: 1109–54.Google Scholar
Lord, E. 2018. The Importance of Being Rational. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mason, E. 2013. “Objectivism and Prospectivism about Rightness,” Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, 7(2): 121.Google Scholar
Mason, H. E. (ed.) 1996. Moral Dilemmas and Moral Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, G. E. 1912. Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Parfit, D. 2011. On What Matters: Volume One. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Portmore, D. W. 2011. Commonsense Consequentialism: Wherein Morality Meets Rationality. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prichard, H. A. 2002. “Duty and Ignorance of Fact,” in MacAdam, J. (ed.), Moral Writings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 84101.Google Scholar
Prior, A. N. 1960. “The Autonomy of Ethics,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 38(3): 199206.Google Scholar
Regan, D. 1980. Utilitarianism and Cooperation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rosen, G. 2010. “Metaphysical Dependence: Grounding and Reduction,” in Hale, B. and Hoffman, A. (eds.), Modality: Metaphysics, Logic, and Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 109–35.Google Scholar
Rosen, G. 2015. “The Alethic Conception of Moral Responsibility,” in Clarke, R., McKenna, M., and Smith, A. (eds.), The Nature of Moral Responsibility: New Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 6588.Google Scholar
Ross, J. 2012. “Actualism, Possibilism, and Beyond,” Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics, 2: 7496.Google Scholar
Ross, W. D. 1939. Foundations of Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ross, W. D. 2002. The Right and the Good. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Scanlon, T. M. 2008. Moral Dimensions: Permissibility, Meaning, and Blame. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Schaffer, J. 2012. “Grounding, Transitivity, and Contrastivity,” in Correia, F. and Schnieder, B (eds.), Metaphysical Grounding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 122–38.Google Scholar
Sepielli, A. 2012. “Subjective Normativity and Action Guidance,” Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics, 2: 4573.Google Scholar
Sepielli, A. 2018. “Subjective and Objective Reasons,” in Star, D. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Reasons and Normativity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 784–99.Google Scholar
Sinnott-Armstrong, W. 1988. Moral Dilemmas. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Smith, H. 2018. Making Morality Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sobel, J. H. 1976. “Utilitarianism and Past and Future Mistakes,” Noûs, 10: 195219.Google Scholar
Strawson, P. F. 1962. “Freedom and Resentment,” Proceedings of the British Academy, 48: 125.Google Scholar
Thomason, R. H. 1981. “Deontic Logic and the Role of Freedom in Moral Deliberation,” in Hilpinen, R. (ed.), New Studies in Deontic Logic. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 177–86.Google Scholar
Thomson, J. J. 1985. “Imposing Risks,” in Gibson, M. (ed.), To Breathe Freely. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Allanheld, 124–40.Google Scholar
Thomson, J. J. 1990. The Realm of Rights. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Thomson, J. J. 2008. Normativity. Peru, IL: Carus Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Vessel, J. P. 2009. “Defending a Possibilist Insight in Consequentialist Thought,” Philosophical Studies, 142: 183–95.Google Scholar
Vorobej, M. 2000. “Prosaic Possibilism,” Philosophical Studies, 97: 131–6.Google Scholar
Wallace, R. J. 1994. Responsibility and the Moral Sentiments. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Way, J. and Whiting, D. 2016. “If You Justifiably Believe You Ought to ϕ, Then You Ought to ϕ,” Philosophical Studies, 173(7): 1873–95.Google Scholar
Way, J. and Whiting, D. 2017. “Perspectivism and the Argument from Guidance,” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 20(2): 361–74.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, M. J. 1988. An Essay on Moral Responsibility. Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, M. J. 1996. The Concept of Moral Obligation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, M. J. 2006. “Is Moral Obligation Objective or Subjective?Utilitas, 18(4): 329–61.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, M. J. 2008. Living with Uncertainty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, M. J. 2014. Ignorance and Moral Obligation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Subjective versus Objective Moral Wrongness
  • Peter A. Graham, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  • Online ISBN: 9781108588249
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

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 Dropbox.

Subjective versus Objective Moral Wrongness
  • Peter A. Graham, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  • Online ISBN: 9781108588249
Available formats
×

Save element 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.

Subjective versus Objective Moral Wrongness
  • Peter A. Graham, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  • Online ISBN: 9781108588249
Available formats
×