bryjnar comments on Three kinds of moral uncertainty - Less Wrong

32 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 30 December 2012 10:43AM

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Comment author: bryjnar 01 January 2013 02:41:05AM 0 points [-]

This definitely seems to be a post-metaethics post: that is, it assumes something like the dominant EY-style metaethics around here (esp the bit about "intrinsic moral uncertainty"). That's fine, but it does mean that the discussion of moral uncertainty may not dovetail with the way other people talk about it.

For example, I think many people would gloss the problem of moral uncertainty as being unsure of which moral theory is true, perhaps suggesting that you can have a credence over moral theories much like you can over any other statement you are unsure about. The complication, then, is calculating expected outcomes when the value of an outcome may itself depend on which moral theory is true.

I'm not sure whether you'd class that kind of uncertainty as "epistemic" or "intrinsic".

You could also have metaethical uncertainty, which makes the whole thing even more complex.

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 01 January 2013 08:47:45AM 0 points [-]

For example, I think many people would gloss the problem of moral uncertainty as being unsure of which moral theory is true, perhaps suggesting that you can have a credence over moral theories much like you can over any other statement you are unsure about.

This would still require some unpacking over what they mean with a moral theory being true, though.