ABSTRACT

This volume presents new research on the use of experimental methodologies in moral and social philosophy. The contributions reflect the growing plurality of methodologies and strategies for implementing experimental work on morality to new domains, problems, and topics.

Philosophers are exploring the ways in which empirical approaches can transform our idea of the good, our understanding of the social nature of norms and morality, and our methods of fulfilling ethical goals. The chapters in this volume extend experimental work on morality to previously underexplored areas. The contributions in Part 1 explore the methods and foundations of experimental work in areas such as folk moral judgments, metaethical beliefs, moral explanations, and reflective equilibrium. Part 2 focuses on issues in normative ethics and legal and political philosophy such as virtue ethics, utilitarianism, theories of justice, and criminal responsibility. Finally, the chapters in Part 3 tackle various applied ethical issues, including feminist X-Phi, animal welfare, experimental bioethics, and self-driving cars.

Experiments in Moral and Political Philosophy will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in ethics, applied ethics, experimental philosophy, social and political philosophy, and philosophy of law. 

Chapter 1 and 15 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.taylorfrancis.com. They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

part I|140 pages

Methods and Foundations

chapter 3|19 pages

Concrete Over Abstract

Experimental Evidence of Reflective Equilibrium in Population Ethics *

chapter 4|21 pages

Trolley Problems Reimagined

Sensitivity to Ratio, Risk, and Comparisons

chapter 5|21 pages

The Psychology of Metaethics

Evidence For and Against Folk Moral Objectivism

chapter 8|17 pages

Coming Full Circle

Incentives, Reactivity, and the Experimental Turn

part II|108 pages

Normative Ethics and Legal and Political Philosophy

part III|87 pages

Applied Issues