Non-Cognitivism and Validity

Theoria 73 (2):121-147 (2007)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this paper I defend against a certain objection the view that it is possible to account for validity and kindred notions for moral language within a non-cognitivist framework by appeal to the descriptive meaning of moral terms. The objection is that such an account leads to an asymmetry in the accounts it offers for synonymy in different contexts; in certain contexts it holds that sameness of meaning for a moral term depends on its evaluative meaning, in other contexts that it depends on the term's descriptive meaning. In the third part of the paper I try to show why non-cognitivists should be prepared to live with that asymmetry. In the process I also deal with two other objections.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 98,109

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

A Defense of Non-Cognitivism.Carl David Alm - 1998 - Dissertation, Cornell University
‘Good’ In Moral Contexts.R. M. Hare - 1952 - In Richard Mervyn Hare (ed.), The Language of Morals. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Indiscernibility of identicals.Pavel Tichý - 1986 - Studia Logica 45 (3):251 - 273.
Some Aspects of Meaning in Non-Contingent Language.John Francis Horty - 1986 - Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh
Non-cognitivism and rational inference.Mark Bryant Budolfson - 2011 - Philosophical Studies 153 (2):243 - 259.
A semantic challenge to non-realist cognitivism.David Copp - 2018 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 48 (3-4):569-591.

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-09-13

Downloads
121 (#157,202)

6 months
7 (#589,429)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

David Alm
Lund University

Citations of this work

Moral Cognitivism vs. Non-Cognitivism.Mark van Roojen - 2013 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2013 (1):1-88.
Options for Hybrid Expressivism.Caj Strandberg - 2015 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 18 (1):91-111.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The moral problem.Michael Smith - 1994 - Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell.
Language, truth and logic.Alfred Jules Ayer - 1936 - London,: V. Gollancz.
The language of morals.Richard Mervyn Hare - 1963 - Oxford,: Clarendon Press.

View all 23 references / Add more references