Error Theory: a critical evaluation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2017.2.26582Keywords:
metaethics, Error Theory, queerness argument.Abstract
Among modern metaethical theories John Mackie’s Error Theory is one of the most influential. This is not accidental. Mackie’s theory is new, is interesting and is supported by clear and challenging arguments. In spite of all this, a case will be mounted here against Mackie’s main theses. Firstly, it will be claimed that, if his main argument, the argument from queerness, is taken as sound, what follows from it is not the systematic falsity of moral statements, as Mackie claims, but something else. Secondly it will be argued that the queerness argument itself is not sound. The result is a rejection of the main points of Mackie’s theory.
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References
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