TY - JOUR
T1 - Morality is not like mathematics
T2 - The weakness of the math-moral analogy
AU - Gill, Michael B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, University of Memphis, Department of Philosophy. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/6
Y1 - 2019/6
N2 - In both the early modern period and in contemporary debates, philosophers have argued that there are analogies between mathematics and morality that imply that the ontology and epistemology of morality are crucially similar to the ontology and epistemology of mathematics. I describe arguments for the math-moral analogy in four early modern philosophers (Locke, Cudworth, Clarke, and Balguy) and in three contemporary philosophers (Clarke-Doane, Peacocke, and Roberts). I argue that these arguments fail to establish important ontological and epistemological similarities between morality and mathematics. There are analogies between the two areas, but the disanalogies are more significant, undermining the attempt to confer on morality the same ontological and epistemological status that mathematics possesses.
AB - In both the early modern period and in contemporary debates, philosophers have argued that there are analogies between mathematics and morality that imply that the ontology and epistemology of morality are crucially similar to the ontology and epistemology of mathematics. I describe arguments for the math-moral analogy in four early modern philosophers (Locke, Cudworth, Clarke, and Balguy) and in three contemporary philosophers (Clarke-Doane, Peacocke, and Roberts). I argue that these arguments fail to establish important ontological and epistemological similarities between morality and mathematics. There are analogies between the two areas, but the disanalogies are more significant, undermining the attempt to confer on morality the same ontological and epistemological status that mathematics possesses.
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U2 - 10.1111/sjp.12322
DO - 10.1111/sjp.12322
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85066834403
SN - 0038-4283
VL - 57
SP - 194
EP - 216
JO - Southern Journal of Philosophy
JF - Southern Journal of Philosophy
IS - 2
ER -