Moral theory has mostly focused on idealized situations in which the morally relevant properties of human actions can be known beforehand. Here, a framework is proposed that is intended to sharpen moral intuitions and improve moral argumentation in problems involving risk and uncertainty. Guidelines are proposed for a systematic search of suitable future viewpoints for hypothetical retrospection. In hypothetical retrospection, a decision is evaluated under the assumption that one of the branches of possible future developments has materialized. This evaluation is based on the deliberator’s present values, and each decision is judged in relation to the information available when it was taken. The basic decision rule is to choose an alternative that comes out as morally acceptable (permissible) from all hypothetical retrospections.

Hypothetical Retrospection

Counterexamples in ethics

This paper is, in part, a response to Steffen Borge's article in Teorema Vol. XIX/1 (2000), "A Call for a Possible World Argument in Ethics". I suggest that the relationship between possible worlds and ethical deliberation is not distinctive and auxiliary in nature. Rather, I argue that the contemplation of possible worlds is an essential part of ethical theorizing. The immediate character of ethics vis-a-vis the possible is evidenced by the account of moral deliberation proposed by a certain form of moral particularism. In particular, the work of John McDowell demonstrates the inextricably modal aspects of ethics in this regard.

Lackey Douglas

Papers

Empirical disconfirmation and ethical counter-example