Extending Quine's Web: A Procedural and Naturalistic Model of Moral Objectivity

The is/ought problem, this paper argues, is not a metaphysical chasm to be bridged but an artifact of foundationalist epistemology. To reframe it, this paper develops *Emergent Pragmatic Coherentism (EPC)*, a descriptive model of moral knowledge. Building on Quine’s holism, EPC models all knowledge as an emergent hierarchy of shared “networks of predicates.” This social-epistemic architecture scales from the individual’s “web of belief” to encompass entire traditions of inquiry. Within this architecture, truth is treated deflationary as a functional label for robust coherence within a pragmatically-tested network. This network-relative conception of truth is simultaneously disciplined by an external selective filter—evolutionary pragmatic selection—where the ultimate metric is not mere persistence but *pragmatic viability*: a system's homeostatic efficiency in propagating its structure with minimal coercive cost. Networks incurring high systemic costs collapse over time, while efficient, resilient networks propagate. This process grounds a form of procedural objectivity: while truth is a property internal to a network, networks themselves can be objectively ranked by their long-term viability. The ultimate regulative standard is the Apex Network—a theoretical model of a real, emergent historical object representing the cumulative record of predicates that have proven most viable. EPC’s central claim is conditional: if we begin from minimal naturalism, where endurance is a non-negotiable constraint, then EPC provides a robust account of moral progress. It locates normative authority not in metaphysical fiat or non-cognitive attitudes, but in the empirical lessons encoded in humanity’s most resilient social and epistemic structures.