Not a Good Fix

Title

Not a Good Fix: Constitutivism on Value Change and Disagreement

 Author

Klenk, M.B.O.T. (TU Delft Values Technology and Innovation; TU Delft Ethics & Philosophy of Technology) ORCID 0000-0002-1483-0799
van de Poel, I.R. (TU Delft Values Technology and Innovation; TU Delft Ethics & Philosophy of Technology) ORCID 0000-0002-9553-5651

 Department

Values Technology and Innovation

 Date

2023

 Abstract

We examine whether Thomsonian constitutivism, a metaethical view that analyses value in terms of ‘goodness-fixing kinds,’ i.e. kinds that themselves set the standards for being a good instance of the respective kind, offers a satisfactory explanation of value change and disagreement. While value disagreement has long been considered an important explanandum, we introduce value change as a closely related but distinct phenomenon of metaethical interest. We argue that constitutivism fails to explain both phenomena because of its commitment to goodness-fixing kinds. Constitutivism explains away disagreement and at best explains the emergence of new values, not genuine change. Therefore, Thomsonian constitutivism is not a good fix for realist problems with explaining value disagreement, and value change.

 Subject

Constitutivism
metaethics
Value change
Value disagreement

 To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:15858b1a-721b-4501-8e41-897bbb6cb860

 DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-023-00742-y

 ISSN

0165-0106

 Source

Erkenntnis: an international journal of analytic philosophy

 Part of collection

Institutional Repository

 Document type

journal article

 Rights

© 2023 M.B.O.T. Klenk, I.R. van de Poel
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