Doing the best one can (while trying to do better)
The thesis explores the question of how should a rational moral agent reason and make choices when he finds himself accepting inconsistent moral judgments. It is argued that it is both conceptually and psychologically justified to describe such an agent as suffering from uncertainty. Such uncertainty, however, is not uncertainty regarding the truth of some descriptive claim, but rather uncertainty regarding the truth of a normative claim. Specifically it is uncertainty regarding the truth of a moral judgement. In the literature this is sometimes called âmoral uncertaintyâ. Two different lines of philosophical literatures that explore the idea of moral uncertainty are discussed. The first line â the one that originated from David Lewisâ argument against the âDesire as Belief Thesisâ â explores the mere possibility of moral uncertainty, while the second line explores the question how ought a rational moral agent choose in face of moral uncertainty. The discussion of these two lines of research leads to the conclusion that a consistent account of moral decision making under conditions of moral uncertainty that will be applicable to the kind of cases that the thesis explores, must make use of degrees
Nissan-Rozen, Ittay
B Philosophy (General)
Doing the best one can (while trying to do better). The thesis explores the question of how should a rational moral agent reason and make choices when he finds himself accepting inconsistent moral judgments. It is argued that it is both conceptually and psychologically justified to describe such an agent as suffering from uncertainty. Such uncertainty, however, is not uncertainty regarding the truth of some descriptive claim, but rather uncertainty regarding the truth of a normative claim. Specifically it is uncertainty regarding the truth of a moral judgement. In the literature this is sometimes called âmoral uncertaintyâ. Two different lines of philosophical literatures that explore the idea of moral uncertainty are discussed. The first line â the one that originated from David Lewisâ argument against the âDesire as Belief Thesisâ â explores the mere possibility of moral uncertainty, while the second line explores the question how ought a rational moral agent choose in face of moral uncertainty. The discussion of these two lines of research leads to the conclusion that a consistent account of moral decision making under conditions of moral uncertainty that will be applicable to the kind of cases that the thesis explores, must make use of degrees
best try well explores question rational moral_agent reason make choice find accept inconsistent moral_judgment argue conceptually psychologically justified describe agent suffer uncertainty uncertainty however uncertainty regard truth descriptive claim rather uncertainty regard truth normative claim specifically uncertainty regard truth moral_judgement literature sometimes call moral uncertainty two_different line philosophical_literature explore idea moral uncertainty discuss first line originate lewis argument desire_belief explore mere possibility moral uncertainty second line explore question ought rational moral_agent choose face moral uncertainty discussion line lead_conclusion consistent account_moral decision_make condition moral uncertainty applicable kind case explore must_make use degree