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Series:   Elements in Ethics

Ethical Realism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2022

William J. FitzPatrick
William J. FitzPatrick
Affiliation:
University of Rochester, New York

Summary

This Element examines the many facets of ethical realism and the issues at stake in metaethical debates about it—both between realism and non-realist alternatives, and between different versions of realism itself. Starting with a minimal core characterization of ethical realism focused on claims about meaning and truth, we go on to develop a narrower and more theoretically useful conception by adding further claims about objectivity and ontological commitment. Yet even this common understanding of ethical realism captures a surprisingly heterogeneous range of views. In fact, a strong case can be made for adding several more conditions in order to arrive at a proper paradigm of realism about ethics when understood in a non-deflationary way. We then develop this more robust realism, bringing out its distinctive take on ethical objectivity and normative authority, its unique ontological commitments, and both the support for it and some challenges it faces.
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Keywords

metaethicsethical realismnormativitynonnaturalismobjective value
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Ethics
Online ISBN: 9781108580885
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 17 February 2022

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