Ethical intuitionism and the linguistic analogy

Moral Theory : the Linguistic Analogy

Analogies are often theoretically useful. Important principles of electricity are suggested by an analogy between water flowing through a pipe and electricity “flowing” through a wire, with voltage corresponding to pressure, amperage corresponding to the current, and so on. A basic theory of sound is suggested by an analogy between waves caused by a stone being dropped into a still lake and “so...

The Linguistic Analogy: Motivations, Results, and Speculations

Inspired by the success of generative linguistics and transformational grammar, proponents of the linguistic analogy (LA) in moral psychology hypothesize that careful attention to folk-moral judgments is likely to reveal a small set of implicit rules and structures responsible for the ubiquitous and apparently unbounded capacity for making moral judgments. As a theoretical hypothesis, LA thus r...

Moral Theory: the Linguistic Analogy Moral Grammar

The transcendent “grammar”, that is to say the body of rules for individual action and the reciprocal relationships of persons in accordance with justice and solidarity, is inscribed on human consciences, in which the wise plan of God is reflected. As I recently had occasion to reaffirm: “we believe that at the beginning of everything is the eternal word, reason and not unreason (4).” Peace is ...

On Misreading the Linguistic Analogy : Response to

Oscar Wilde noted " Always forgive your enemies-nothing annoys them so much. " Before we forgive our critics, however, we thank Prinz and Mallon for their thoughtful comments, and for taking the linguistic analogy as a serious proposal amidst the current excitement at the interface between moral philosophy and moral psychology. What we forgive is their targeted comments on several issues that a...

Intuitionism