Topics Ethics

Question This site is a wonderful idea. Some of the questions seem to ask for moral advice, and I wonder whether the study of moral philosophy alone puts one in the position to give responsible advice. Wouldn't one have to know the person, the circumstances, and so on. And even then, in contrast to many kind of decision, moral decisions seem so personal as to rule out a right and wrong answer, which is not to say some actions and ways of living may be terribly wrong. What do you think?

Accepted:
August 21, 2008

Comments

I recall someone describing one of his colleagues, a well-know proponent of "rule utilitarianism," as "right in principle, wrong in practice." And more generally, I think you're right: being a capable ethical theorist doesn't make someone able to give good moral advice. I dare say every member of this panel can think of his or her own illustrations of this point. It's not just because the person and the circumstances matter; most every moral philosopher would agree with that. It's also that theoretical and practical skill are often not strongly correlated. To this we might add that experience, a feel for certain kinds of real-life details, and that elusive thing we call wisdom are all qualities we look for in people we seek moral advice from.

That said, philosophers can sometimes help people think through certain kinds of issues for a couple of reasons. One is that they've often run into similar questions before and been part of extensive discussions of them. Another is that philosophers are often good at spotting various kinds of confusions and conflations that get in the way of good thinking in general. Yet another is that when people set forth their moral claims or moral worries on the site, it's not unusual for the description to carry with it an unnoticed presupposition of just the sort that philosophers are in the business of noticing.

As a reader of as well as a contributor to the site, one of the things I've been impressed by is the care that my co-panelists take when they offer thoughts on moral issues. I think we all try to be aware that we need to avoid being bulls in a china shops. And the last thing any of us would want us for someone to adopt a moral conclusion just because we say so. We're at our best, I believe, when we provoke readers into thinking afresh about their own questions.