Comment on What is Metaethics?

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 17:18:37 GMT

It means different things to different people. Moore (1903) wrote:

By 'nature', then, I do mean and have meant that which is the subject matter of the natural sciences and also of psychology.

Alternatively, Baldwin (1993) suggests:

For a property to be natural is for it to be causal, that is, to be such that its presence, in suitable conditions, brings about certain effects.

Warnock's (1960) interpretation of Moore was:

[Moore] was willing to accept a criterion for 'non-natural' which suggested that a non-natural property was one which could not be discerned by the senses.

Miller (2003) concludes:

I will simply take natural properties to be those which are either causal or detectable by the senses.

Discuss