The Hansonian moralist

Abstract

Robin Hanson’s doctrine of “dealism” subordinates morality, but this doctrine is found to be flawed by arguments from Bryan Caplan. While Hanson fails as a dealist, Caplan argues that he excels as a moralist. Caplan argues that Hanson’s projects consist of attempting to understand why people are forgiving of cuckoldry and hostile to cryonics, and coming to the conclusion that the standard moral position on these issues is indefensible. Caplan also argues that Hanson often constructs sound original moral arguments, persuading people to revise their moral views, and he takes some classical virtues beyond the point of prudence. – AI-generated abstract.