Blackwell Reference Online

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Moral epistemology is central to ethical theory and, after a period of some neglect, is currently receiving much attention. Discussion of the subject suffered no small setback from the influence of positivistic noncognitivism. Nor was moral epistemology a main object of the narrowly metaethical focus that dominated much of ethical discussion between the Second World War and the early 1970s; the concern during that period was mainly semantical and metaphysical. Even now, many writers in ethics who tend to take for granted that there is much scientific knowledge are skeptical about the possibility of any moral knowledge; and some of them accept the view, especially common in university communities, that moral judgments represent at best cultural assumptions having no claim to truth.The aim of this essay is both to indicate the scope of some major positions in moral epistemology and to defend, at least in outline, my own view in this field. There are many significant positions to consider, but a reasonable selection can be made by taking account of both rationalism and empiricism as general epistemological outlooks and, in ethics specifically, of utilitarianism, Kantianism, intuitionism, virtue ethics, and noncognitivism. These are perhaps the dominant approaches in current ethical theory.If we distinguish approaches in moral epistemology sharply, we find a great many. But if we think ... log in or subscribe to read full text