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2021

Philosophy Seminar Series

Philosophy Seminar Series 2021
Date(s)
October 20, 2021
Location
Online
Time
15:00 - 16:30
Price
Free

James Hutton (University of Edinburgh), 'Moral Magnifying: A Proposal for Ameliorative Moral Epistemology'
 
Abstract: This article makes a recommendation for improving our ethical judgments. Working with the background assumption that many of these judgments are based on emotions, I argue that we predictably tend to underestimate the ethical significance of certain kinds of problem. Specifically, due to a lack of emotional connection, we will tend to underestimate the badness of problems that are impersonal, stochastic, large-scale and multiply realizable (e.g. climate breakdown, the threat of non-aligned AI). In response to this, I recommend we adopt a practice of *moral magnifying*. This involves (i) upping our estimations of the badness of problems with these features, and (ii) striving to increase the emotional vividness of such problems. More broadly, I argue that moral epistemologists should devote more effort to making practical recommendations of this kind, a project I call *ameliorative moral epistemology​*. 
 
Wednesday 20 October 2021, 3pm via MS Teams
 
Contact Suzanne Whitten (suzanne.whitten@qub.ac.uk) for link. 
Department
School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics
Audience
All
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Event Organiser Details
Name Dr Suzanne Whitten
Email suzanne.whitten@qub.ac.uk
Website https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/happ/
Philosophy Seminar Series 2021