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Question 5: What is Rawls’ method of reflective equilibrium? Do discoveries in moral psychology show that the use of this method is unjustified?

Hints

Answer with respect to any one discovery. Your essay should probably focus on *wide *reflective equilibrium only (but you may focus on *narrow *reflective equilibrium only if you give reason for doing so).

Please also follow the general instructions for Long Essay Questions.

Reading

If you are following the lecture notes and seminars, you should already know what to read. You do not need to consult this list. This is only for people coming to the assignment without using the lecture notes (not recommended).

Further Reading

Where to Find the Reading?

In some cases the references section already includes a link to help you find the reading.

If there is no link in the references section, start by searching for the title (and, if that fails, by title and authors) on google scholar. If this fails, the library has resources. If those fail, please check first with others on the course. If you still have problems, you may email your seminar tutor.

References

Greene, J. D. (2014). Beyond Point-and-Shoot Morality: Why Cognitive (Neuro)Science Matters for Ethics. Ethics, 124(4), 695–726. https://doi.org/10.1086/675875
Knight, C. (2023). Reflective Equilibrium. In E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2023). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2023/entries/reflective-equilibrium/
McMahan, J. (2013). Moral Intuition. In H. LaFollette & I. Persson (Eds.), The Blackwell Guide to Ethical Theory (pp. 103–120). Oxford: Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1111/b.9780631201199.1999.00007.x
Rawls, J. (1999). A Theory of Justice (Revised edition). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Scanlon, T. M. (2002). Rawls on justification. In S. Freeman (Ed.), The cambridge companion to rawls (pp. 139–167). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521651670.004
Singer, P. (2005). Ethics and Intuitions. The Journal of Ethics, 9(3), 331–352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10892-005-3508-y