The slide into nihilism: a problem for the concordance account of moral truth

Jeremy Wyatt (University of Waikato), Junyeol Kim (Chungbuk National University)

I would like to draw your attention to the following online philosophy seminar series, hosting by the Center for International Philosophy at Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai this semester.

On November 26th, 10am China Standard Time, Jeremy Wyatt (Waikato) will be presenting a talk titled "The slide into nihilism: a problem for the concordance account of moral truth.”

The respondent is Junyeol Kim (Chungbuk National University).

Attendance is free.

Please register for the event by sending an email to

[email protected]

for the Zoom link and password.

Abstract: Michael Lynch defends a novel and nuanced coherence theory of moral truth.  According to this theory, the truth of a moral judgment is determined by whether it is concordant. The concordance account is meant to make room for moral truth, despite the fact that according to Lynch, moral judgments are incapable of corresponding to reality. My main aim will be to develop a significant problem for the concordance account. The problem is that the account commits us to nihilism about moral truth, which is the view that no moral judgments are true. In this way, it simply fails to make room for moral truth. After developing this problem, I will consider several strategies for defusing it and highlight their shortcomings. My ultimate conclusion will be that the concordance account is not an attractive theory of moral truth.

Bio: Jeremy Wyatt is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Waikato.  He works primarily on topics in metaphysics, the philosophy of language, and experimental philosophy. The main topics of his research have been pluralist theories of truth, deflationary theories of truth, primitivist theories of truth, cross-linguistic inquiry about truth, taste, and disagreement.

The meeting time is the 26th of November, 10am China Standard Time [2am GMT, November 26th]

Meeting time in other timezones:

• 12am New Zealand Standard Time
• 6am Eastern Standard Time