{"id":13499,"date":"2009-03-28T09:57:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-28T16:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philosophyforchildren.org\/does-what-we-are-matter-when-thinking-about-what-we-ought-to-do\/"},"modified":"2009-03-28T09:57:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-28T16:57:00","slug":"does-what-we-are-matter-when-thinking-about-what-we-ought-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/does-what-we-are-matter-when-thinking-about-what-we-ought-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Does what we are matter when thinking about what we ought to do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_I-bvyBpij2c\/Sc5YsWZtkiI\/AAAAAAAAANg\/XYrxEp533AQ\/s1600-h\/APPEXP.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318285728922047010\" style=\"FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 170px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 250px\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_I-bvyBpij2c\/Sc5YsWZtkiI\/AAAAAAAAANg\/XYrxEp533AQ\/s400\/APPEXP.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div>Is science relevant to moral philosophy? In the marvelously clear and accessible <em>Experiments in Ethics<\/em>, Kwame Anthony Appiah explores the relationship between morality and the empirical research of science.<\/div>\n<div>Many philosophers have held that science in general, and moral psychology in particular, hold little relevance for moral philosophy (stemming in part from Hume\u2019s distinction between &#8220;is&#8221; and &#8220;ought&#8221;). Appiah explores some of the findings of empirical moral psychology, including its demonstration that people don\u2019t tend to have consistent character traits (say, honesty or kindness) in the way virtue theorists have imagined that virtuous people do. <\/div>\n<div>Research shows that people&#8217;s behavior varies depending on a multitude of factors, many of which are not morally relevant and about which we are wholly unaware (for example, the presence of a particular fragrance). Appiah argues that such empirical facts about human nature must be relevant to ethics, because there\u2019s no point of applying moral norms to people that we are psychologically incapable of obeying. In other words, if it\u2019s impossible for people always to be kind, what use would a moral rule be that requires kindness under all circumstances? <\/div>\n<div>Appiah argues that the research of moral psychology is relevant for moral philosophy, but does not replace it. While moral problems can\u2019t be solved by looking at the way people actually behave in various situations, it is helpful in thinking about morality to understand the research about how various situations affect our moral judgments. Appiah\u2019s version of &#8220;experimental philosophy&#8221; traces a path for philosophers to utilize science\u2019s insights about human nature to help to make sense of the central project of ethics: as Appiah sees it, this is to make the best possible life for ourselves, while recognizing that everyone else also has a life to make for themselves, and that we are all in this together. <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is science relevant to moral philosophy? In the marvelously clear and accessible Experiments in Ethics, Kwame Anthony Appiah explores the relationship between morality and the empirical research of science. Many philosophers have held that science in general, and moral psychology in particular, hold little relevance for moral philosophy (stemming in part from Hume\u2019s distinction between <a href=\"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/does-what-we-are-matter-when-thinking-about-what-we-ought-to-do\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Does what we are matter when thinking about what we ought to do?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,195],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moral-philosophy","category-wondering-aloud"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Does what we are matter when thinking about what we ought to do? 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