From punishment to universalism

Abstract

Many philosophers have claimed that the folk endorse moral universalism. But while some empirical evidence supports the claim that the folk endorse moral universalism, this work has uncovered intra‐domain differences in folk judgments of moral universalism. In light of all this, our question is: why do the folk endorse moral universalism? Our hypothesis is that folk judgments of moral universalism are generated in part by a desire to punish. We present evidence supporting this across three studies. On the basis of this, we argue for a debunking explanation of folk judgments of moral universalism.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
May 28, 2018
Source ID
10.1111/mila.12191

Entities

People

  • David Rose
  • Shaun Nichols

Organizations

  • Office of Naval Research
  • University of Arizona
  • Washington University in St. Louis

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Philosophy

Readers

  • Aviation Safety Risk Assessment.
  • Educational Psychology
  • Naval Personnel Management