1. Chapter 20
Moral Skepticism

2. An Inversion Of Ordinary Morality
Morality and Might
We will assume that morality simply is what the most powerful in the society want
Nietzsche’s New Morality
Friedrich Nietzsche was a philosopher who held that in a new and different sense of right:
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3. An Inversion Of Ordinary Morality
The strong person who refuses to do the conventionally moral thing
And who acts by ordinary standards immorally is in fact the moral person
The powerful have a natural right to rule
Once the weaklings have joined together to restrict the bully and the tyrant:
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4. An Inversion Of Ordinary Morality
Then to make sure that everyone follows the new guidelines, they try to make it seem as though:
This is the morally right way to behave
And people who patiently await their turn, respect the rights of others, and help those in need are not:
Just helping themselves in an enlightened self-interested way but are good people
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5. An Inversion Of Ordinary Morality
What most of us think of as the highest moral principles of Judeo-Christian & liberal thought:
Branded by Nietzsche as “slave morality,” unjustly robs the powerful of their natural right to rule
Banding together the weak can overpower the strong
But then who is really the stronger?
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6. The Metaphysics Of Morality
Moral Facts
Egger–Maestri climb
What we seem committed to in our ordinary understanding of morality is:
The objectivity of moral values
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7. The Metaphysics Of Morality
We don’t act as if they were matters established by:
Human desire, choice, emotion, belief
Ethical Subjectivism
A conviction’s being a reflection of ordinary experience and common sense:
Does not render it immune to refutation
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8. The Metaphysics Of Morality
It is a conviction that we have compelling reason to correct
An Argument to Show That There Are No Objective Moral Facts
There is a way that things are and
This way is not simply the product of:
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9. The Metaphysics Of Morality
Human subjective states such as beliefs, desires, emotions and choices
It does not require holding that all human beings agree on the matter
There was a time when virtually all believed that the Earth orbited the Sun
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10. J. L. Mackie: The Argument from Relativity
Modus Ponens Component
Disjunctive Syllogism Component
Either (a) there is a lack of adequate evidence on the issue or:
(b) the issue is not objective
Implausibility Argument
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