The Underdetermination of Moral Theories

Marius Baumann

doi:10.1017/9781009492454

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Marius Baumann, Universität Munchen

Publisher:: Cambridge University Press
Expected online publication date:: March 2025
Print publication year:: 2025
Online ISBN:: 9781009492454
DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009492454
Creative Commons:: 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/creativelicenses

Subjects:: Ethics, Philosophy

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In normative ethics, a small number of moral theories, such as Kantianism or consequentialism, take centre stage. Conventional wisdom has it that these individual theories posit very different ways of looking at the world. In this book Marius Baumann develops the idea that just as scientific theories can be underdetermined by data, so can moral theories be underdetermined by our considered judgments about particular cases. Baumann goes on to ask whether moral theories from different traditions might arrive at the same verdicts while remaining explanatorily incompatible. He applies this idea to recent projects in normative ethics, such as Derek Parfit's On What Matters and so-called consequentializing and deontologizing, and outlines its important implications for our understanding of the relationship between the main moral traditions as well as the moral realism debate. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

‘Ethicists have recently discovered that the traditional ethical theories are in fact very flexible and so can agree on most things. Baumann uses tools from philosophy of science to provide the first systematic treatment of this discovery. His book is a well-researched, highly original, and rigorously argued exploration of an exciting new topic in normative ethics.'

Jussi Suikkanen - University of Birmingham

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The Underdetermination of Moral Theories

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-viii

Acknowledgments
pp ix-x

Introduction
pp 1-10

Part I - Scientific Underdetermination and the Analogy to Ethics
pp 11-12

Chapter 1 - Underdetermination in Science
pp 13-34

Chapter 2 - The Analogy to the Moral Realm
pp 35-70

Part II - Underdetermination in Normative Ethics
pp 71-72

Chapter 3 - Parfit and the Case Study of Case Studies
pp 73-88

Chapter 4 - Going Algorithmic
pp 89-119

Chapter 5 - The Big Picture in Normative Ethics
pp 120-158

Part III - Skepticism and a New Metaethical Position
pp 159-160

Chapter 6 - Skeptical Repercussions
pp 161-184

Chapter 7 - A New Position in Metaethics
pp 185-211

Chapter 8 - Looking Back and Ahead
pp 212-222

Bibliography
pp 223-233

Index
pp 234-236

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