Pragmatist Metaethics: Moral Theory as a Deliberative Practice

The paper defends a pragmatist account of metaethics that challenges the standard view of justificatory structure at the heart of many rule‐based normative ethical theories. The standard view of justificatory structure assumes that deliberation must be constrained by antecedent justificatory procedures. I consider some of the radical implications of the pragmatist idea that deliberation is the conceptual context within which to interpret, evaluate, and explain moral justification.