The Meaning of Moral Discourse

Abstract

<p>Non-cognitivist theories of moral language are challenged on the ground that they put a misplaced emphasis on certain non-descriptive, as distinct from descriptive and universalizable, dimensions of a total linguistic situation, and that in this way they fail both to explain moral agreement and to make wider agreement possible. It is argued that on a broad definition of the meaning of a symbol in terms of a set of dispositions to be used in accordance with rules, the alleged logical distinction between the several dimensions of a linguistic situation or the uses of linguistic symbols breaks down. Moreover, appeal is made throughout the thesis to the actual practice of moral discourse and the analogies one may find between meaning and methcx:i in sciences on the one hand and in morals on the other. Just as in scientific, so in moral discourse freedom is embedded in rationality in the sense of concern for facts and for coherence and harmony among them. It is hoped that in general the thesis will contribute to the establishment of moral egalitarianism.</p>