//I think that these things really are wrong and don’t depend on what people think about it. But I also think that that statement is part of a language game dictated by complex norms and expectations.//
To me this sounds a bit like moral naturalism. You don’t think morality is something non-physical and spooky but you think there are real moral facts and these don’t depend on our attitudes.
I guess I don’t quite see what your puzzlement is with morality. There are moral norms which govern what people should do. Now, you might deny there in fact are such things, but I don’t see what’s so mysterious.
I think of moral naturalism as a position where moral language is supposed to represent things, and it represents certain natural things. The view I favor is a lot closer to inferentialism: the meaning of moral language is constituted by the way it is used, not what it is about. (But I also don’t think inferentialism is quite right, since I’m not into realism about meaning either.)
I guess I don’t quite see what your puzzlement is with morality. There are moral norms which govern what people should do. Now, you might deny there in fact are such things, but I don’t see what’s so mysterious.
Another angle on the mystery: it is possible that there are epistemic norms, moral norms, prudential norms, and that’s it. But if you’re a realist, it seems like it should also be possible that there are hundreds of other kinds of norms that we’re completely unaware of, such that we act in all sorts of wrong ways all the time. Maybe there are special norms governing how you should brush your teeth (that have nothing to do with hygiene or our interests), or how to daydream. Maybe these norms hold more weight than moral norms, in something like the way moral norms may hold more weight than prudential norms. If you’re a non-naturalist, then apart from trust in a loving God, I’m not sure how you address this possibility. But it also seems absurd that I should have to worry about such things.
//I think that these things really are wrong and don’t depend on what people think about it. But I also think that that statement is part of a language game dictated by complex norms and expectations.//
To me this sounds a bit like moral naturalism. You don’t think morality is something non-physical and spooky but you think there are real moral facts and these don’t depend on our attitudes.
I guess I don’t quite see what your puzzlement is with morality. There are moral norms which govern what people should do. Now, you might deny there in fact are such things, but I don’t see what’s so mysterious.
Richard Chappell had a nice post about the last kind of objection https://www.philosophyetc.net/2021/10/ruling-out-helium-maximizing.html
I also wrote something about this a while ago https://benthams.substack.com/p/contra-bush-on-moral-fetishism?utm_source=publication-search
I think of moral naturalism as a position where moral language is supposed to represent things, and it represents certain natural things. The view I favor is a lot closer to inferentialism: the meaning of moral language is constituted by the way it is used, not what it is about. (But I also don’t think inferentialism is quite right, since I’m not into realism about meaning either.)
Another angle on the mystery: it is possible that there are epistemic norms, moral norms, prudential norms, and that’s it. But if you’re a realist, it seems like it should also be possible that there are hundreds of other kinds of norms that we’re completely unaware of, such that we act in all sorts of wrong ways all the time. Maybe there are special norms governing how you should brush your teeth (that have nothing to do with hygiene or our interests), or how to daydream. Maybe these norms hold more weight than moral norms, in something like the way moral norms may hold more weight than prudential norms. If you’re a non-naturalist, then apart from trust in a loving God, I’m not sure how you address this possibility. But it also seems absurd that I should have to worry about such things.