Should Metaethical Naturalists Abandon de dicto Internalism and Cognitivism?

A Reply to Yann Wilhelm

Author

Jesse Prinz

jesse @ subcortex.com

City University of New York

New York, NY, U.S.A.

Commentator

Yann Wilhelm

ywilhelm @ students.uni-mainz.de

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität

Mainz, Germany

Editors

Thomas Metzinger

metzinger @ uni-mainz.de

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität

Mainz, Germany

Jennifer M. Windt

jennifer.windt @ monash.edu

Monash University

Melbourne, Australia

Yann Wilhelm pursues three issues in response to my target article. First, he tries to expose my naturalism as more radical than I let on. I concede the point, though I also offer ways in which my radicalism might be mitigated. Second, he exposes a limitation in my argument for internalism, and suggests that naturalists should defend a form of internalism that is neutral about conceptual claims (de re internalism, rather than de dicto). I welcome the suggestion, but also consider how naturalists might defend de dicto internalism. Third, Wilhelm challenges my argument against non-cognitivism, by offering a novel explanation of the fact that moral judgments have an assertoric form. In response, I note avenues for cognitivist resistance to Wilhelm’s explanation.

Keywords

Cognitivism | Conceptual truth | Internalism | Metaethics | Naturalism | Non-cognitivism