Graduation Year
2026
Date of Submission
4-2026
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Philosophy
Reader 1
Professor Dustin Locke
Terms of Use & License Information
Abstract
Evolutionary debunking arguments against moral realism appeal to the evolutionary origins of our moral beliefs as proof that these beliefs are unjustified. Evolutionary debunkers have, in the last two decades, faced all manner of objections. This paper concerns a challenge targeted at the central claim of their argument: that evolutionary natural selection in some sense explains our moral beliefs. Louise Hanson (2017) argues that, if natural selection does explain our moral beliefs, it does so in a way that fails to be epistemically relevant. In this paper, I argue that Hanson is mistaken. Natural selection, I show, is part of the causal story of why each individual has the moral beliefs that they have as opposed to the moral beliefs that they do not have. This fact, I argue, threatens the epistemic status of our moral beliefs. If my argument is correct, facts about evolutionary forces should make us pessimistic about the prospects of our having moral knowledge.
Recommended Citation
Arjomand, Sara, "Quantification, Predication, and Epistemic Defeat: The Real Problem with “The Real Problem with Evolutionary Debunking Arguments”" (2026). CMC Senior Theses. 4090.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/4090
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
