Moral Realism

Moral realism is the metaethical view that there are moral facts and moral properties and that the existence of these facts and instantiation of these properties is essentially independent of any subjective stance. This view commits moral realists to three logically independent theses. Moral antirealists deny one or more of these theses.

First, moral realism is a form of cognitivism. Cognitivism is the view that moral judgments express beliefs that are capable of being true or false. Realists [Page 1431]see moral judgments as beliefs that are true or false depending on whether they accurately represent moral facts. In contrast, noncognitivists (expressivists) maintain that the function of moral discourse is either to express the affective states—such as the emotions or desires—of the speaker and to persuade others ...