What is moral anti-realism?

Moral anti-realism is the philosophical position that moral statements do not refer to objective features of an external reality. Instead of corresponding to independent facts, the truth of such statements is understood through internal logic mechanisms or demonstrability. It stands in direct opposition to moral realism, which asserts that ethical propositions report objective features of the world.

What we know

• Anti-realism posits that the truth of a statement rests on its demonstrability through internal logic mechanisms rather than correspondence to an external reality. [1, 2]
• Moral realism stands in direct opposition to all forms of moral anti-realism and moral skepticism. [3]
• Philosophical surveys from 2009 and 2020 showed that a majority of surveyed academic respondents lean toward moral realism rather than anti-realism. [3]

Where to go next

• compared withWhat is moral realism?
• the bigger pictureHow does metaethics examine moral judgment?
• whoWho first articulated anti-realism?
• a case in pointWhat are the varieties of anti-realism?
• an unexpected connectionHow does mathematical anti-realism work?

Sources

• [1]anti-realism (Wikidata Q2716356) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Anti-realism · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Moral realism · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]List of philosophies · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Metaethics · CC BY-SA 4.0

Your path

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