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Moral Realism: Are There Objective Moral Facts?
The debate over whether moral claims can be true or false independently of anyone's opinion
When you say 'torturing children for fun is wrong,' are you reporting a moral fact about the world — or merely expressing your feelings?
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Metaethics asks not what is right or wrong, but what kind of thing moral claims are. Moral realism holds that moral claims describe objective facts — 'genocide is wrong' is true in the same way '2+2=4' is true, independently of anyone's beliefs or feelings. Anti-realism holds that moral claims do not describe mind-independent facts — they express attitudes (emotivism), are relative to cultures (relativism), or are prescriptive rather than descriptive.
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It's okay to be wrong. The thinking process is what matters.
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Question 1 of 1What does moral realism claim?