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- Title
Can expressivism have it all?
- Authors
Cuneo, Terence
- Abstract
Quasi-realist expressivists (or simply "expressivists") set themselves the task of developing a metaethical theory that at once captures what they call the "realist-sounding" elements of ordinary moral thought and discourse but is also distinctively antirealist. Its critics have long suspected that the position cannot have what it wants. In this essay, I develop this suspicion. I do so by distinguishing two paradigmatic versions of the view—what I call Thin and Thick expressivism respectively. I contend that there is a metaethical datum regarding our epistemic achievements in the moral domain that presents challenges for each variety of expressivism. Thin expressivism opts not to accommodate and explain this datum but I contend that its rationale for not doing so rests on a suspect methodology. Thick expressivism looks as if it must accommodate and explain this datum but I argue that it is poorly situated to do so. I conclude that we have reason to believe that paradigmatic expressivism cannot have all that it wants.
- Subjects
EXPRESSIVISM (Ethics); REALISM; METAETHICS; SUSPICION; EPISTEMIC logic; ETHICS; ANTI-realism
- Publication
Philosophical Studies, 2020, Vol 177, Issue 1, p219
- ISSN
0031-8116
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11098-018-1186-4