Thank you for this thoughtful post! I am just about to start a PhD in philosophy on the psychology and metaethics of well-being, so I am fairly familiar with the research literature on this topic in particular. I totally agree with you that foundational issues should be investigated more deeply in EA circles. To me, it is baffling that there is so little discussion of meta-ethics and the grounds for central propositions to EA.
You are right that many philosophers, including some who write about method, think that ethics is about weighing intuitions in reflective equilibrium. However, I think that it is seriously misleading to state this as if it is an undisputed truth (like you do with the quote from Michael Plant). In the 2020 Philpapers survey, I think about half of respondents thought intuitions-based philosophy was the most important. However, the most cited authors that do contemporary work in philosophical methodology eg. Timothy Williamson and Herman Cappelen, dont think intuitions plays important roles at all, at least not if intuitions are thought to be distinct from beliefs.
I think that all the ideas you mention concerning how to move forward look very promising. I would just add “explore meta-ethics”, and in particular “non-intuitionism in ethics”. I think that there are several active research programs that might help us determine what matters, without relying on intuitions in a non-critical way. I would especially recommend Peter Railton’s project. I have also written about this and I am going to write about it in my PhD project. I would be happy to talk about it anytime!
Thank you for this thoughtful post! I am just about to start a PhD in philosophy on the psychology and metaethics of well-being, so I am fairly familiar with the research literature on this topic in particular. I totally agree with you that foundational issues should be investigated more deeply in EA circles. To me, it is baffling that there is so little discussion of meta-ethics and the grounds for central propositions to EA.
You are right that many philosophers, including some who write about method, think that ethics is about weighing intuitions in reflective equilibrium. However, I think that it is seriously misleading to state this as if it is an undisputed truth (like you do with the quote from Michael Plant). In the 2020 Philpapers survey, I think about half of respondents thought intuitions-based philosophy was the most important. However, the most cited authors that do contemporary work in philosophical methodology eg. Timothy Williamson and Herman Cappelen, dont think intuitions plays important roles at all, at least not if intuitions are thought to be distinct from beliefs.
I think that all the ideas you mention concerning how to move forward look very promising. I would just add “explore meta-ethics”, and in particular “non-intuitionism in ethics”. I think that there are several active research programs that might help us determine what matters, without relying on intuitions in a non-critical way. I would especially recommend Peter Railton’s project. I have also written about this and I am going to write about it in my PhD project. I would be happy to talk about it anytime!