Part 3 Summary

Metaethics asks questions about normative ethical views and theories: Can our moral claims be true? What, really, is the subject matter of morality? Is there any moral knowledge? If so, how can we obtain it? Is morality a human creation, and if it is, does this mean that it is just a useful fiction, or is it largely in good working order? If morality is in some way objective, in what way—and how can this be? What role does reason play in morality, and, in particular, is there always good reason to do as morality requires? These are questions about the status of morality rather than, as in normative ethics, about morality’s content. In the selections included here, the focus is primarily on debates about whether morality is objective.