Should we Hope Apparent Atrocities Are Illusory

Philosophers have recently turned to axiological questions related to God and, to a minor extent, related to morality. This paper contributes to the latter project. The world contains atrocities such as famine and war. Can we rationally hope that these atrocities are merely moral illusions? First, we have good reason to hope that moral atrocities are only apparent because our world would be morally worse if they were real. Some critics argue that they know atrocities are real. However, setting aside whether we have such moral knowledge, perhaps we shouldn’t hope that atrocities are morally illusory because that outcome would undercut our moral reliability, imply that we have false and unjustified moral beliefs, result in moral opportunity costs, and potentially deny the dignity of victims of (even only apparent) atrocities

Aside · Culpability · Dignity · Moral agency · Moral authority · Moral disengagement · Moral psychology · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Health and Conflict Studies · War, Ethics, and Justification