The Persistence of Moral Skepticism and the Limits of Moral Education

Abstract This article examines moral skepticism and the possible attendant limits of moral education. It describes attempts at teaching moral commitment and presents materials from a recent account of moral standing to assemble an explanation for skepticism's tenacity. It discusses Robert Nozick's treatment of moral standing and suggests that neither theory nor education will in the end do what so many philosophers have assumed they could, that is, anchor ethical commitment against skeptical second thoughts.