60.9.3.2 Ethics · Anthony Nuñez

Back to 60.9 Philosophy · Sisters: Epistemology (MOC) · Political Philosophy (MOC) · Database: Ethics index (file not included in this release) · Canvas (file not included in this release)

Ethics asks what we ought to do, what moral claims mean, and how judgment works. Use the topic maps below for study; use the religion-and-morality route for your current argument-building and speaking practice.

Keep the questions separate

Recall four questions: Which claim? Why only God? What reasons? Why better?
From your live debate map. These questions distinguish the claim, its proposed foundation, your positive reasons, and the comparison of accounts.

Start here

Get the map: Big‑picture Map Of Moral Philosophy → Philosophical Foundations for Morality and Their Thinkers.
Separate the layers: Objective Moral Systems → Moral Psychology Does Not Settle Metaethics. A normative theory, a theory of moral truth, and an account of moral motivation answer different questions.
Follow your current project: Morality and Religion - Learning Path → Does Morality Require Religion - Master → Morality and Religion - Move Drill. Your working Kantian argument and the remaining foundational questions stay in that project.
Find the lecturer: Lance Bush / Lance Independent — the strong match to your notebook entry about Wilson, with verified credentials and sources.

Metaethics: meaning, truth, and justification

Topic map: Metaethics

Metaethics Mindmap — the questions, positions, objections, and handwritten-notebook connections.
Moral Realism vs. Anti-Realism — whether moral truths require stance-independent facts; keep this separate from religious belief.
Moral Cognitivism vs. Non-Cognitivism — belief, truth-aptness, attitudes, and the role of moral language.
Grounding and reasons: Moral Naturalism · Ethical non-naturalism · stance-independent moral reasons.
Inference and justification: Hume Is-Ought Problem · The Foundations of Morality - Intuition, Justification, and Infinite Regress · Morality without foundation just preference?.
Alternatives and objections: Expressivism · Quasi-realism · Frege–Geach problem · Moral Pluralism Is Not Moral Relativism.

Normative ethics: duties, outcomes, and character

Topic map: Normative Ethics

Deontology — duties and constraints; continue to the categorical imperative and threshold cases.
Outcomes: Consequentialism · Utilitarianism · Railton on alienation and the sophisticated consequentialist.
Contractualism — mutual justification and principles no one could reasonably reject; distinguish it from bargaining for advantage.
Character and self-interest: Virtue ethics · Epicureanism · On the Randian Argument - Robert Nozick.
Stress tests: Moral Luck · Threshold Deontology · Deontological vs Teleological.

Moral psychology, sentiment, and motivation

Topic map: Moral Psychology

The Social Intuitionist Model of Moral Judgment — Haidt’s account of intuition, post hoc reasoning, and social correction.
Intuition Is Evidence, Not a Verdict — a practical method for assessing intuitions before treating them as conclusions.
How Should Moral Judgment Combine Intuition, Reason, and Consequences - Argument Map — the competing approaches, their failure modes, and a proposed synthesis.
Hume and the Stoics: Can a Feeling Be Wrong - Stoics vs Hume and Hutcheson → Hume's Corrections of Sentiment - The General Point of View → Graver Audit - Correcting the Stoic Side of the Hume Comparison.
Motivation and interest: Hume, Stoicism, and Whether Reason Can Motivate Moral Action · Mandeville, Rand, and Hume - Self-Interest, Virtue, and the Sources of Morality.
Cross-vault: The Righteous Mind - Jonathan Haidt · 60.21 Psychology · 60.12.1 Stoicism.

Morality, religion, and live debate

Topic map: Debates and Religion · Current practice: Does Morality Require Religion - Master

Morality and Religion - Andrew Wilson Challenge — the strongest source-located grounding challenge, its limits, and the burden on each side.
Analysis of Andrew Wilson Debate (Moral Language) — the larger vocabulary and response inventory; read alongside the newer challenge note’s corrections.
Build a positive case: Secular Morality · Can Atheism and Reason Ground Morality? · REF - Objective Morality and God. Criticizing a religious account does not establish your preferred secular account.
Know the other side: the reconstructed opposition · divine-nature and natural-law replies · Horn’s arguments and the audit.
Power and rights: Force Doctrine · Against "Force Doctrine" · Countering Advantage of the Stronger.
Practice: Morality and Religion - Practice · Morality and Religion - Move Drill · Dialogue tree (file not included in this release).

The live map, kept in sync with the debate project

Transclude of debate/does-morality-require-religion/does-morality-require-religion---master#the-map-to-carry-in-my-head

Applied ethics and political connections

Casework map: Applied Ethics

Moral authority and political power: Grounding of Rights · Rights Without Religion - Historical Philosophical Perspectives · Law Is Not Value-Free - Legal Neutrality, Morality, and the Common Good.
Arguments in context: Andrew Wilson - Political Ideology, Philosophical Foundations, and Program · Andrew Wilson vs Dave Smith - Libertarianism and Christian Populism Argument Map.
Historical and conceptual audit: Hume, Reid, and Locke - Destiny v Asmongold Philosophy Audit.

Courses, books, and cross-vault routes

Study map: Study Resources · Unified philosophy curriculum

Books and structured courses

Books for Metaethics — introductory maps, realist and antirealist arguments, and constructivist alternatives.

The Philosophy of Ethics (Peterson Academy) · The Psychology of Morality - Peterson Academy — philosophy and psychology courses, with slides kept beside the course material.

Justice - What's The Right Thing To Do - YouTube · Justice by Michael J. Sandel — competing theories applied to cases.

Are Ethics Just Emotions? - Simon Blackburn — the expressivist and quasi-realist route.

Your wider graph: Epistemology (MOC) · Political Philosophy (MOC) · 60.11 Religion · Personal Journal · Anki collection.

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Ethics database

Ethics index (file not included in this release)

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