The pseudonym "Philo Vaihinger" has been abandoned. All posts have been and are written by me, Joseph Auclair.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

The fundamental moral predicate

In my view there is only one fundamental moral predicate and it is “wrong.”

Semantic beliefs of English speakers commonly include that “right” in this connection means the same as “not wrong” and that “a duty” means the same as “wrong to omit.”

These beliefs are false since “wrong” fails to denote.

Or true since, in consequence of being so defined, these expressions also mean nothing.

But they nevertheless tie these terms to "wrong" and make them functional parts of the core moral vocabulary of the language.

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