Defending the Evolutionary Debunking Argument

By Man Him Ip

In this thesis, I will explore the epistemological evolutionary debunking arguments in meta-ethics (EDA). I will defend these arguments by accomplishing two tasks: (1) I will offer the best (i.e., most detailed and precise) way to understand the EDA and (2) I will also respond to two strongest objections to the EDA

Firstly, in Part I of this thesis, I will offer my account of how the EDA should be best formulated. I will start from how evolution has significantly influenced our moral beliefs. I will then explain why, due to their evolutionary origin, our moral beliefs are not tracking the moral truth reliably. Furthermore, I will argue that the fact that our moral beliefs are not tracking the moral truth also provides an undercutting and a higher-order defeater for those beliefs. As a result, I will conclude that the epistemic status of our moral beliefs is undermined because of these two kinds of defeaters.

Secondly, in Part II of this thesis, I will turn my attention to the two strongest objections to the EDA- the Conceptual Truth Objection and the Third Factor Objection. I will first offer two responses to the Conceptual Truth Objection and, based on these two responses, I will argue that the Conceptual Truth Objection fails as a challenge to the EDA. I will then also argue that there currently doesn't exist an acceptable version of the Third Factor Objection and it is also unlikely that such a version could be constructed in the future. I will finally conclude that both objections are problematic and they are thus unable to give us reason to doubt the EDA.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 183520628X
• ISBN13: 9781835206287
• Release Date: September 2023
• Publisher: Areeb Irshad
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"