Single Idea 23732

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / h. Against ethics]

Full Idea

Amoralists make moral judgements without being motivated accordingly, and without suffering any sort of practical irrationality either; the practicality requirement of moral judgement is thus false.

Gist of Idea

A person could make a moral judgement without being in any way motivated by it

Source

Michael Smith (The Moral Problem [1994], 3.3)

Book Reference

Smith,Michael: 'The Moral Problem' [Blackwell 1994], p.67


A Reaction

It is hard to imagine an immoralist with this nihilistic attitude bothering to make any moral judgements at all. Why would someone indifferent to art make aesthetic judgements? What could a 'judgement of rightness' mean to an amoralist?