Ethical decision-making under empirical and moral uncertainty
This study compares the role of empirical and moral uncertainty in ethical decision-making. Empirical uncertainty refers to uncertainty about non-normative empirical states, such as the outcome of an action. Moral uncertainty refers to uncertainty about moral principles, such as whether a deontologi...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) Chapter/Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
November 16, 2020
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| In: |
Open Science Framework
Year: 2020, Pages: 1-19 |
| DOI: | 10.17605/OSF.IO/STHVJ |
| Online Access: | Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/STHVJ Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://osf.io/sthvj/ 
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| Author Notes: | Maximilian Theisen, Markus Germar, Joachim Funke |
| Summary: | This study compares the role of empirical and moral uncertainty in ethical decision-making. Empirical uncertainty refers to uncertainty about non-normative empirical states, such as the outcome of an action. Moral uncertainty refers to uncertainty about moral principles, such as whether a deontological or consequentialist reasoning should be applied in a given situation. Following the meta-ethical literature on moral uncertainty, we propose that decisions under moral uncertainty can be described by applying a form of expected-value reasoning. According to this approach, the product of both the credence a person has in a moral position and the moral value this moral position would ascribe to the given action, summed over all moral positions, predicts the moral judgment of the respective action. - We are running an online study with 200 undergraduate students to compare the influence of empirical uncertainty on a purely consequentialist evaluation to the influence of moral uncertainty on a personal evaluation that might include both consequentialist and deontological reasons. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 26.02.2026 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| DOI: | 10.17605/OSF.IO/STHVJ |