"Major surgery" or "ruthless surgery," metaphorically speaking?


Author: Terence Rajivan Edward
Abstract. When there is a conflict between general principles and judgments about specific moral situations, using the reflective equilibrium procedure one may in some contexts abandon specific judgments. But one should not engage in ruthless surgery on moral intuitions, says T.H. Irwin. I think he should say, "Major surgery," and I try to clarify the difference.
Draft version: Version 2 (12th September 2026, minor edits; v1 17th December 2022).
Note: does not show up on my Google docs document search


        I wish to discuss surgery, but not literally. I wish to discuss metaphorical surgery. To begin with, a sketch of a method in moral philosophy. We have moral judgments in response to specific situations, such as my judgment that Ann should pay for dinner as well. Then we try to propose a set of general principles which entail these specific moral judgments. If they entail them all, then we have achieved reflective equilibrium. What if they entail only a few? Then we must change our principles somehow. What if they entail many but not all? That is a more complicated situation, in terms of the guidance for using the procedure. We can change our principles to achieve total entailment, but there is also the option of abandoning a specific moral judgment, or a few, to achieve this end. (The method is traced back to Nelson Goodman, who did not use the term. For a canonical statement, see Rawls 1999.)
        The Oxford philosopher and scholar T.H. Irwin describes the situation like so:
"Perhaps almost any moral theory could result in reflective equilibrium if we discarded our initial considered judgments ruthlessly enough. But this does not seem to be the sort of process that Rawls intends. He does not seem to use 'reflective equilibrium' so broadly that anyone who accepts a theory and judges in accordance with it has thereby achieved reflective equilibrium. He seems to regard ruthless surgery not as a possible method of reaching reflective equilibrium, but as an assertion of inability to reach reflective equilibrium." (2009: 901-902)
Perhaps what follows is harsh on Irwin, since the earlier use of "ruthless" helps us grasp his meaning, but I wonder whether he should refer to what he has in mind by the more familiar term "major surgery." Here is a natural starting point for clarifying the difference.
(Major r.e. surgery) Major surgery occurs when one discards a large number of moral judgments about specific situations to resolve a conflict between proposed general principles and one's specific moral judgments, thereby achieving reflective equilibrium.
(Ruthless r.e. surgery) Ruthless surgery is when one rationally pursues the end of reaching reflective equilibrium by discarding some number of moral judgements about specific situations, in a way that ignores significant emotional obstacles towards doing so.
Ruthless surgery does not have to be major by this clarification. In its mainstream version, it is major surgery that the reflective equilibrium procedure warns against, or prohibits.
 
References
N.a. n.d. Reflective equilibrium. Wikipedia. Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_equilibrium
(Associates the reflective equilibrium method with Nelson Goodman, though he did not name it.)
Irwin, T.H. 2009. The Development of Ethics: A Historical and Critical Study. Volume III: From Kant to Rawls. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pigliucci, Massimo. 2012. Reflective equilibrium. Philosophy Now. Available at:
https://philosophynow.org/issues/88/Reflective_Equilibrium
(Associates the reflective equilibrium method with Nelson Goodman, though he did not name it.)
Rawls, John. 1999 (revised edition). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Available at:
https://dn760007.eu.archive.org/0/items/a-theory-of-justice-john-rawls-1971/A%20theory%20of%20justice%20John%20Rawls%201971.pdf


See also
Edward, Terence Rajivan. 2022/2026. Reflective equilibrium and ruthless. Surgery. Available at: https://philpapers.org/rec/EDWREA-4
And: https://website2.net/irwin_reflective_surgery.txt