How do we evaluate ethical systems without relying on circular reasoning?
Hello everyone,
I've been thinking about how we actually test or evaluate ethical systems, and I keep running into a methodological problem I'd love to get your thoughts on.
The core issue:
When we present a hypothetical scenario to an ethical framework (like Utilitarianism, Deontology, Virtue Ethics, etc.) and assess whether its conclusion feels "right," aren't we already relying on a prior moral standard—our intuitions—to judge that conclusion?
If so, doesn't this create a circularity problem? We use our intuitions to evaluate the system, but the system is supposed to help refine or even override our intuitions.
A concrete example:
In the past, slavery was considered completely normal. So if a modern ethical framework existed at that time that prohibited slavery, would it have been evaluated as a "good" ethical framework back then? I think not—in fact, the opposite would happen: prohibiting slavery would be seen as a negative flaw in that framework.
My question:
What criteria or methods can we use to evaluate ethical systems themselves—not just their conclusions in isolated cases—without falling into circular reasoning or simply appealing to contemporary moral consensus?
Are there meta-ethical standards (coherence, practical applicability, resilience to counterexamples, explanatory power, etc.) that philosophers use to compare frameworks? And how do we weigh those criteria against each other?
I'm not looking for a defense of any specific theory—just trying to understand the tools we have for assessing the theories themselves. Thanks in advance for your insights!