Overview
Explore a philosophical lecture examining the application of Occam's Razor to objective morality. Delve into chapter 17 of Russ Shafer-Landau's book 'Whatever Happened to Good and Evil?', which addresses the argument that following Occam's Razor should lead to rejecting objective moral facts or laws. Analyze Shafer-Landau's responses to this moral skepticism argument and his defense of moral objectivism. Investigate the claim that this particular use of Occam's Razor ultimately defeats itself. Cover key concepts such as moral objectivism, moral skepticism, ontology, competing explanations, epistemic normativity, and the comparison between witches and germs in philosophical reasoning. Gain insights into this introductory-level ethics discussion, which forms part of a broader Introduction to Ethics course.
Syllabus
Introduction
Moral Objectivism and Moral Sceptic
Ontology
Explanation
Competing explanations
Occams Razor
Schaffer Landau
Witches and Germs
epistemic normativity
Taught by
Jeffrey Kaplan