Reflective Equilibrium, Its Virtues and Its Limits

Abstract

For many moral philosophers, the method of reflective equilibrium is the correct account of how moral inquiry should ideally be conducted; it stands at the very center of moral epistemology. I argue that although the method of reflective equilibrium embodies important insights, it does not have the kind of centrality for moral epistemology that has been claimed for it. Impeccable application of the method is neither necessary nor sufficient for moral knowledge, and on its most defensible interpretation, the method takes for granted that we already have some moral knowledge (or at least reasonable beliefs). Because the ability of reflective equilibrium reasoning to deliver new moral knowledge generally depends on our already having substantial moral knowledge from other sources, the method is not a promising answer to the traditional epistemological challenge of how we are able to acquire moral knowledge in the first place.