hard · MCAT Critical Analysis & Reasoning Skills
Metaethical Constructivism often points to the 'Gold Standard' of money as an analogy. A dollar bill has no intrinsic value; its value is 'constructed' by social agreement and institutional backing. However, once constructed, the value is an objective fact: you cannot simply 'decide' that your dollar is worth twenty. Similarly, constructivists argue that while we created the moral 'currency' of rights and duties, those rights are now objective facts within our social reality.
Based on the passage's analogy, what would be the most effective way for a 'moral skeptic' to attack constructivism?
- By arguing that some individuals are simply much better at managing and budgeting their personal finances than others, which is irrelevant here.
- By claiming that gold possesses an inherent physical weight and market scarcity, and thus, unlike paper currency, is not truly a social construction.
- By pointing out that if the social agreement collapses (e.g., during a hyperinflation or civil war), the 'objective' moral facts vanish instantly.
- By asserting that morality was actually discovered through divine revelation given to ancient prophets, rather than gradually created by human social groups.
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