LTT: Saira Khan - A commitment account of normal externalisation
Abstract:
It has been argued that moral norms fundamentally differ in character from conventional norms. One of the distinctive features of moral norms is thought to be their externalised character. To say that a norm is externalised is to say that it is experienced as imposed on us from the outside and exacting a demand on all, regardless of their group (Stanford 2018). Stanford (2018) argues that externalisation evolved to facilitate correlated interaction among cooperators. However, he failed to specify the precise means of correlated interaction. In this paper, I argue that the mechanism behind correlated interaction on the basis of externalised norms is commitment. I offer a commitment account of the emergence of externalised norms that situates their evolution as part of a coevolution of commitment and cooperation over human history.