[2] Nature of Moral Claims

• Moral Statements - Statements that express the moral values of a person or group.
• Moral Statements - Not factual but normative
• Factual Statements - regarded as descriptive/empirical claims that pertain to objects that have natural properties.
• It is a mistake to think that moral statements are always difficult to justify and their acceptability is always subjective to the individual.
• What is the basis of moral statements?

  moral standard
• Moral statements are also considered as what?

  normative statements
• Normative Statements - expresses a value judgment and the basis we use to assess its correctness lies on a certain norm or standard
• Normative Standards are based on what?

  standards
• The following statements are examples of what?

  • Giving to charity is morally praiseworthy.
  • It's good to take care of your children.
  • Cain's murdering Abel was morally wrong.

  Moral Statements
• Normative standards

  • “What ought to be the case”
  • “should”; “ought” , “right”, “good”
• What kind of statement is "You ought to return the excess change to the cashier" ?


  Normative Statements
• A factual statement - a claim about natural realities that can be assessed as true or false based on either research, observation, or experiment.
• Factual Statements

  • “What should be the case”
• "Blue litmus paper will turn red when dipped in an acid solution" is an example of what kind of statement?

  Factual Statement