Final answer:
The reduction of moral knowledge to belief is attributed to subjective interpretation, philosophical arguments, and religious teachings, with figures like David Hume emphasizing morality's basis in sentiment over fact.
Step-by-step explanation:
Moral knowledge has been reduced to the realm of belief through a combination of factors including philosophical arguments, religious teachings, and subjective interpretation. David Hume, a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, argued that moral judgments are based on sentiments rather than facts, and therefore cannot be derived from empirical observation. This subjective nature of morality aligns with Hume's position that you cannot derive an ought from an is, meaning that descriptive statements about the world cannot logically lead to prescriptive moral claims.
Moral realism, however, posits that there are objective moral facts, though this position faces challenges from skeptics who argue that moral values cannot be proven factually. This skepticism is further supported by appeals to reason and the Enlightenment philosophy, which sought to establish moral principles independently of religious belief.
The choices between knowledge, represented by the Red Pill of philosophy and reasoning, and
belief, represented by the Blue Pill of faith and emotional decision-making, reflect the tension between these ways of arriving at moral understanding.