NDPR Richard Joyce Morality: From Error to Fiction

0 views

Skip to first unread message

ndpr...@nd.edu

unread,

Oct 3, 2025, 8:27:49 AMOct 3

to philosophical...@nd.edu, philosophical-...@nd.edu, philosophical-...@nd.edu, philosophical-...@nd.edu

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

2025.10.1 View this Review Online View Other NDPR Reviews

Richard Joyce, Morality: From Error to Fiction, Oxford University Press, 2024, 256 pp., $100.00 (hbk) ISBN 9780198879367. Reviewed by

Reviewed by Stephen Morris, College of Staten Island (CUNY)

The view known as moral error theory (henceforth, simply error theory) holds that all moral statements are false insofar as they entail properties that do not exist. Proponents of error theory are confronted with what philosophers call the “Now What?” problem, which asks how we should respond to our pre-theoretic moral commitments given their falsity. While one may presume that error theorists would favor eradicating all remnants of moral thinking from our judgments and deliberations—a view known as moral abolitionism—it turns out that most self-identified error theorists believe people would be best served by preserving morality’s role in their lives. Such...