Laura Fearnley
Published: 21 January 2019
The connection between counterfactuals and morality.
University of Glasgow
The connection between counterfactuals and morality.
My work aims to bring these hitherto disconnected arms of research together to explore the view that counterfactuals ground truths about morality, especially ascriptions of moral praise and blame, and that counterfactuals are sometimes dependent upon our claims about morality.
My research is shaped by the emerging trend in ethics towards thinking that counterfactuals are irrelevant to our moral evaluations. For instance, surely the fact that you would have jumped into the sea to save your drowning friend (had it been necessary) does not make your act of throwing the life-vest to save your friend any more, or less, praiseworthy? In metaphysics, some are interested in the idea that counterfactuals may depend upon norms, but little attention has been paid to the possibility that the relevant norms might be moral in nature. Against this background, I will explore the idea that counterfactuals and morality are more intertwined than the current literature supposes, perhaps even interdependent.
First published: 21 January 2019