Morals and Modals

Abstract

Abstract Conclusions properly drawn must be true when the premises are; events must unfold in accordance with natural law; people must obey the moral laws. Why do we find it so tricky to give a satisfactory philosophy of these necessities? In the first part of this essay, I suggest that it is because we have a rooted, and inadequate, conception of what is needed to establish such an understanding. This conception dominates the philosophy of modality, just as it does other areas, but it makes a genuine advance in understanding impossible. The diagnosis here is quite simple, but it is not so simple to disentangle ourselves from its influence, and to become practised with tools that are better suited to the problem.