Overview

Moral realism is the meta-ethical view that there are objective moral facts or truths in the world, independent of human opinion or culture.

Core Idea

The core idea is that “Murder is wrong” is a fact about the universe, just like “The earth is round.” It isn’t just a feeling or a social rule; it’s a truth to be discovered.

Formal Definition

Moral realism typically holds two theses:

  1. Cognitivism: Moral statements express propositions that are capable of being true or false.
  2. Independence: At least some of these propositions are true, and their truth does not depend on the subjective mental states of the observer.

Intuition

  • The Alien: If aliens came to Earth and said “Torturing babies for fun is good,” a moral realist would say “They are wrong,” just as if they said “2+2=5.” A non-realist might say “That’s just their culture.”
  • Moral Progress: We believe we are better than our ancestors who owned slaves. This implies there is a real standard we are getting closer to.

Examples

  • Naturalism: Moral facts are natural facts (e.g., “good” = “promotes survival” or “maximizes happiness”).
  • Non-Naturalism: Moral facts are a special kind of non-physical fact (like mathematical truths) known by intuition (G.E. Moore).

Common Misconceptions

  • Misconception: Realism means being dogmatic.
    • Correction: You can believe the truth exists but admit you might be wrong about what it is (Fallibilist Realism).
  • Misconception: It requires God.
    • Correction: Many atheists are moral realists (e.g., secular humanists, utilitarians).
  • Moral Anti-Realism: The view that there are no objective moral facts (includes Relativism, Nihilism, Emotivism).
  • Error Theory: The view (J.L. Mackie) that moral statements try to state facts but always fail because moral facts don’t exist (like talking about unicorns).
  • Objectivity: Realism is the strongest form of moral objectivity.

Applications

  • Human Rights: The concept of universal human rights is usually grounded in some form of moral realism.
  • Law: Natural Law theory assumes there is a “higher law” that human laws must conform to.

Criticism and Limitations

  • The Argument from Queerness: Mackie argued that objective moral values would be “queer” (strange) entities unlike anything else in the universe. How do we detect them?
  • Disagreement: If moral facts are real, why is there so much disagreement about them compared to scientific facts?

Further Reading

  • The View From Nowhere by Thomas Nagel
  • Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong by J.L. Mackie (Critique)
  • Moral Realism: A Defense by Russ Shafer-Landau