A Wild West of the Mind. Issue 3 (3rd July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sher, George
• Is Part Of: Australasian journal of philosophy. Volume 97:Issue 3(2019)
• Page Start: 483
• Page End: 496
• Publication Date: 2019-07-03
• Subjects: Morality -- thought -- fantasy -- privacy -- Angela Smith; Thomas Scanlon -- Thomas Nagel -- George Orwell; Philosophy -- Periodicals; Psychology -- Periodicals; 105
• DOI: 10.1080/00048402.2018.1490326
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0004-8402

Abstract

Abstract: This paper addresses the relation between morality and private thought. It is widely agreed that government and society have no business trying to control our thoughts—that, as long as we don't put them into action, our beliefs, fantasies, and attitudes are our own business. However, it is also widely agreed that even private thoughts are subject to moral constraint—that it's morally wrong to fantasize about rape or child abuse, feel inappropriate emotions such as envy or schadenfreude, or entertain biased beliefs that are unsupported by evidence. I argue that this last view is badly mistaken, and that the realm of the purely mental is best regarded as morality-free. My argument rests partly on a general view of the role of morality in our lives and partly on an examination of the best arguments for extending its purview to the realm of thought. The upshot is that we have little reason to accept, and much reason to reject, the extension of morality's requirements to anyone's inner world.