Abstract

AbstractThis article questions the traditional view that moral rightness and wrongness are discrete predicates with sharp boundaries. I contend that moral rightness and wrongness come in degrees: Some acts are somewhat rightandsomewhat wrong. My argument is based on the assumption that meaning tracks use. If an overwhelming majority of competent language users frequently say that some acts are a bit right and a bit wrong, this indicates that rightness and wrongnessaregradable concepts. To support the empirical part of the argument I use the tools of experimental philosophy. Results from three surveys (n= 715, 578, and 182) indicate that respondents userightandwrongas gradable terms to approximately the same extent as color terms, meaning that rightness and wrongness come in degrees roughly as much as colors do. In the largest study, only 4 percent persistently usedrightandwrongas non-gradable terms.

Highlights

  • There is an undisputed sense in which moral rightness and wrongness come in degrees

  • Moral rightness and wrongness come in degrees

  • One might worry that the empirical findings may not uniquely support the gradualist hypothesis

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Summary

Introduction

There is an undisputed sense in which moral rightness and wrongness come in degrees. As Thomas Hurka explains, ‘it is wrong to steal a car and wrong to murder, but murder is more seriously wrong than auto theft, which is more seriously wrong than breaking a promise to have lunch’ (Hurka : ). (As noted, in Study colors come in degrees to a slightly higher extent than moral rightness and should be represented on a separate sublevel.) The difference in agreement in table between all pairs of levels is statistically significant at p < . Data for the following tasks, C –C , support it For these items, the gradualist answer option ‘What [Denise/the captain/Anna/Miriam] did was right to some degree, and wrong to some degree’ was the most frequently selected answer in all three studies The four answers options were the same as in C and C

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Discussion

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