Risberg, Olle | 2024
International Journal for the Study of Skepticism
Review of Peter Königs, Problems for Moral Debunkers: On the Logic and Limits of Empirically Informed Ethics. Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter, 2022. Pp. viii + 145. isbn: 9783110750171.
Debunking arguments have a long history in philosophy. The characteristic feature of such arguments is that they invoke empirical claims about the origin of some beliefs to raise doubts about their justification. Thrasymachus’s claim in Plato’s Republic that “justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger” can be understood along these lines—the idea would be that we believe that certain acts are just only because it is in the interest of those in power that we hold those beliefs—and historical figures such as Nietzsche and Freud have also offered debunking arguments concerning our beliefs about morality and religion. [...]
