PHIL 335
Contemporary Metaethics Spring 2013
Division II Writing Skills
This is not the current course catalog

We often speak as if moral judgments can be true or false, well-reasoned or not. But how should objectivity in this domain be understood? Is moral objectivity like scientific objectivity, assuming we have a clear sense of what that involves? If not, should that concern us? Are there other models for understanding moral objectivity besides science? While answers to such questions are implicit in historically important accounts of morality, these issues became the topic of explicit, sustained debate in the twentieth century. Our focus will be on the most recent and sophisticated work in this area. We will examine several different approaches in depth, including realism, constructivism, expressivism, and skepticism. Readings will include works by Moore, Stevenson, Harman, Mackie, Railton, Boyd, Blackburn, Williams, McDowell, Korsgaard, and Nagel.