moralantirealism

Moral anti-realism is a broad category of ethical theories that deny the existence of objective moral truths. This means that anti-realists believe that moral claims do not correspond to any independent moral facts in the world. Instead, they view morality as a human construct, shaped by subjective feelings, social conventions, or personal preferences.

There are several prominent forms of moral anti-realism. Emotivism, for instance, proposes that moral statements are simply expressions of emotion, like "Boo!" or "Hooray!". Non-cognitivism is a related view suggesting that moral language does not express propositions that can be true or false, but rather serves other functions like commanding or influencing behavior. Another significant position is error theory, which asserts that moral statements are indeed truth-apt but are systematically false because no objective moral properties exist.

In contrast to moral realism, which holds that moral values are objective and universally true, moral anti-realism argues for a more subjective or constructed nature of morality. This does not necessarily imply that moral judgments are meaningless or that anything goes. Many anti-realists still believe in the importance of moral discourse and the possibility of moral progress, but they ground these concepts in human psychology, social agreement, or practical considerations rather than objective moral reality. The implications of moral anti-realism are significant for how we understand moral disagreement, justification, and the very nature of ethics.