Acts that are considered undesirable standardly violate our expectations. In contrast, acts that count as morally desirable can either meet our expectations or exceed them. The zone in which an act can be morally desirable yet not exceed our expectations is what we call the zone of moral indifference, and it has so far been neglected. In this paper, we show that people can use positive terms in a deflated manner to refer to actions in the zone of moral indifference, whereas negative terms cannot be so interpreted.

Evaluative Deflation, Social Expectations, and the Zone of Moral Indifference / Willemsen, Pascale; Baumgartner, Lucien; Cepollaro, Bianca; Reuter, Kevin. - In: COGNITIVE SCIENCE. - ISSN 1551-6709. - 48:1(2024). [10.1111/cogs.13406]

Evaluative Deflation, Social Expectations, and the Zone of Moral Indifference

Cepollaro, Bianca
Co-primo
;
2024-01-01

Abstract

Acts that are considered undesirable standardly violate our expectations. In contrast, acts that count as morally desirable can either meet our expectations or exceed them. The zone in which an act can be morally desirable yet not exceed our expectations is what we call the zone of moral indifference, and it has so far been neglected. In this paper, we show that people can use positive terms in a deflated manner to refer to actions in the zone of moral indifference, whereas negative terms cannot be so interpreted.
2024
Blame
Cancellability test
Evaluative language
Moral judgments
Norms
Praise
Thin and thick concepts
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11768/160305
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