As many readers of Legal Theory Blog already know, the best online resource for philosophy is the superb Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. It is a work in progress with new entries added from time to time. The article on Moral Skepticism by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong is now online. Here is a taste:
"Moral Skepticism" names a diverse collection of views that deny or raise doubts about various roles of reason in morality. Different versions of moral skepticism deny or doubt moral knowledge, justified moral belief, moral truth, moral facts or properties, and reasons to be moral.
Despite this diversity among the views that get labelled "moral skepticism", many people have very strong feelings about moral skepticism in general. One large group finds moral skepticism obvious, because they do not see how anyone could have real knowledge of anything’s moral status. Others see moral skepticism as so absurd that any moral theory can be refuted merely by showing that it leads to moral skepticism. Don’t you know, they ask, that slavery is morally wrong? Or terrorism? Or child abuse? Skeptics who deny that we have reason to believe or obey these moral judgments are seen as misguided and dangerous. The stridency and ease of these charges suggests mutual misunderstanding, so we need to be more charitable and more precise.