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Single Idea 6256

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / c. Ethical intuitionism ]

Full Idea

Can there not be a right and wrong state of our moral sense, as there is in our other senses?

Gist of Idea

Can't the moral sense make mistakes, as the other senses do?

Source

Francis Hutcheson (Treatise 4: The Moral Sense [1728], §IV)

Book Ref

'British Moralists 1650-1800 Vol. 1', ed/tr. Raphael,D.D. [Hackett 1991], p.318


A Reaction

Hutcheson replies by saying something like they are both fully reliable in normal conditions. It remains, though, a very good question for the intuitionist to face, as the moral sense is supposed to be direct and reliable, but how do you check?