PY3102 Fifth Handout: Non-Cognitivism
Non-cognitivism about moral judgements: Denial that moral judgements are beliefs. Since they are not beliefs, they are not in the fact-stating business.
An easy argument for non-cognitivism:
Beliefs: States that try to reflect the world. They have a World-> Subject direction of fit; we try to adjust our beliefs to fit the world. As such, they do not motivate us to change the world.
Desires: States that try to change the world. They have a Subject -> World direction of fit; we try to adjust the world to fit our desires. As such, desires motivate us to change the world.
Consider the moral judgement ‘I ought to pay the phone bill’: This judgement has both directions of fit. The judgement:
a) Represents the world as it would result from my actions. I represent the world as having the phone bill payed by me.
b) Endorses this state of affairs, motivating me to bring it about.
Therefore, moral judgements cannot be beliefs. They must involve desires (or, more broadly, pro-attitudes)
Descriptive Meaning: A sentence has descriptive meaning when it is typically used to convey information about the world.
Emotive Meaning: A sentence has emotive meaning when it is typically used to express the speaker’s affective responses and to encourage others to share those responses.
Disagreement in belief is disagreement over the truth of a proposition. Disagreement in attitude is the endorsement of incompatible actions or states of affairs. Non-cognitivists must treat moral disagreement as disagreement in attitude. When A says that X is bad and B insists that X is good, A is expressing a pro-attitude towards X. B is expressing a con-attitude towards X.
Non-Cog Terminology:
1) Expressivism: The view that moral judgements have expressive meaning.
2) Projectivism: On this view, we explain the appearance of moral facts in a natural, motivationally inert, world by seeing moral judgements as projecting our feelings on the world. (The metaphor: Our reactions stain the world in moral colours.)
Reporting vs. Expressing Attitudes
1) Traditional Subjectivism: Views such as the ideal advisor theory. On this kind of view, moral judgements are reports about what we desire, or would desire under ideal conditions.
2) Expressivism/Projectivism: The view that moral judgements express rather than report our desires.