How to do conceptual ethics

Conceptual ethics asks which concepts we should use and why. We develop a framework for evaluating the normative reasons that should guide such choices. We identify three problems in the literature: (i) treating conceptual ethics as special in a way that requires domain-specific internalism about reasons; (ii) defining functions in purely descriptive terms, which fails to explain their normative significance; and (iii) letting function crowd out other moral and epistemic concerns. We propose qualified, normative functionalism: a concept’s function consists in the effects that give us normative reason to deploy it, and these function-based reasons are pro tanto and can be overridden by other reasons. We also address instrumentalist objections to the effect that conceptual ethics should proceed solely in terms of agents’ goals, concerns or needs.