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Josh Morrison's avatar

If I read that piece right, it seems to exclude a plausible middle by saying the alternative to moral realism is moral nihilism. (And it's also wrong to think that a belief in free will is necessary to a belief in morality). I don't really see why the integrity theory in the piece is not itself a theory of morality.

Just generally, I find the moral realism debate a bit misguided. Clearly there is such a social institution as morality. Descriptively, people feel bound by tenets within that category (even though those tenets vary). That morality's not like math doesn't make it false, just different.

The claim that morality might not be good is to me an empirical claim about whether we would prefer to live in a society that lacked morality (or maybe, whether an individual should prefer to discard moral motivation from their reasoning). And I just think that claim has an obvious answer...

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Stephen Diamond's avatar

Or even that morality is good?

For an argument that it isn't, see "The deeper solution to the mystery of moralism—Morality and free will are hazardous to your mental health" - http://juridicalcoherence.b...

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