Ramsey Elsaidi

This chapter argues against experiential moral foundationalism, the thesis that experience is a source of foundational knowledge about morality. To provide us with foundational moral knowledge, experience must not only represent moral facts, but it must also block the regress of justification: it must justify belief without standing in need of any justification. I’ll argue that no experience satisfies both criteria. Perceptual experience blocks the regress of justification, it doesn’t represent moral facts. In contrast, some non-perceptual experiences represent moral facts, including experiences of moral emotion and moral intuition, but they cannot block the regress of justification. Hence, I conclude, no experience can give us foundational moral knowledge.