Very roughly, quasi-realism agrees with anti-realism in stating:
(1) Nothing is objectively right or wrong.
(2) Moral judgments don’t express beliefs.
But, in contrast to anti-realism, quasi-realism also states:
(3) It’s nevertheless legitimate to describe certain moral judgments as true.
The conjunction of (1)-(3) defines quasi-realism.
What you call ‘quasi-realism’ might be compatible with (2) and (3), but its defining features seem to be (1) plus something like:
(4) Our aim is to abide by the principles that we’d embrace if we were more thoughtful, informed, etc.
(1) plus (4) could point you towards two different positions in meta-ethics. It depends whether you think it’s appropriate to describe the principles we’d embrace if we were more thoughtful, etc., as true.
If you think it is appropriate to describe these principles as true, then that counts as an ideal observer theory.
If you think it isn’t appropriate to describe these principles as true, then your position is just anti-realism plus the claim that you do in fact try to abide by the principles that you’d embrace if you were more thoughtful, etc.
Thanks, this is helpful! I wasn’t aware of that usage of “moral quasi-realism.”
Personally, I find the question of whether principles can be described as “true” unimportant, and don’t have much of a take on it. My default take is that it’s convenient to sometimes use “true” in this way, so I sometimes do, while being happy to taboo it anytime someone wants me to or I otherwise think it would be helpful to.
Nice post! I share your meta-ethical stance, but I don’t think you should call it ‘moral quasi-realism’. ‘Quasi-realism’ already names a position in meta-ethics, and it’s different to the position you describe.
Very roughly, quasi-realism agrees with anti-realism in stating:
But, in contrast to anti-realism, quasi-realism also states:
The conjunction of (1)-(3) defines quasi-realism.
What you call ‘quasi-realism’ might be compatible with (2) and (3), but its defining features seem to be (1) plus something like:
(1) plus (4) could point you towards two different positions in meta-ethics. It depends whether you think it’s appropriate to describe the principles we’d embrace if we were more thoughtful, etc., as true.
If you think it is appropriate to describe these principles as true, then that counts as an ideal observer theory.
If you think it isn’t appropriate to describe these principles as true, then your position is just anti-realism plus the claim that you do in fact try to abide by the principles that you’d embrace if you were more thoughtful, etc.
Thanks, this is helpful! I wasn’t aware of that usage of “moral quasi-realism.”
Personally, I find the question of whether principles can be described as “true” unimportant, and don’t have much of a take on it. My default take is that it’s convenient to sometimes use “true” in this way, so I sometimes do, while being happy to taboo it anytime someone wants me to or I otherwise think it would be helpful to.