Importance
Expresses How Other People act
We care deeply about how other people act. Thus, we need a way to communicate approval/disapproval.
Aspects
Logical Language
Best to associate language with truth. Example: AND. I am holding a clicker and giving a thumbs up. You understand what it means for the sentence to be true. since. we can use AND in morally language, this means that moral statements can have truth values.
Deeply Meaningful Moral Vocabulary
Moral disagreements are more meaningful then disputes about the best cream flavour. As such, we have special moral vocabulary:
- Right
- Wrong
- Good
- Bad
- Forbidden
- Permissible
- Required
Non-Verbal Claim (Non-Cognitivism)
Moral language is meant to express your beliefs without verbally saying: “I believe such and such”. When you say “killing is wrong”, you are making an non-verbal claim about your attitudes towards killing - namely that you dislike it.
Imperative Element (Non-Cognitivism)
When you utter moral claims, you express that people should follow that moral fact. For example:
- “Killing is wrong” is the same as issuing the imperative “Don’t kill!”