Sentences that are not Atomic Sentences. These are ones that express more than one idea. For example:
- “If white lies are wrong, then it is wrong to tell one to your roommate”
Explanations
Cognitivism
You can build a logical relationship between them the statements. For the white lies example, I can build: “White lies are wrong” “Wrong to tell a white lie to roommate”. Each term can be evaluated as true or false(See Truth Apt). Then each sentence can be evaluated accordingly.
They can also structure it like arguments, splitting up the sentence into premises and conclusion.
Non-Cognitivism
If the sentences were partitioned as premises, those premises cannot be evaluated as true/false as we assume no Truth-Aptness. Furthermore, the premises can’t be followed if they cannot be evaluated, so we cannot reach the conclusion. Therefore, the Moral Language non-cognitivists use cannot explain complex moral sentences