Yes, people who say that realists are cognitivists say that this is true by definition, but I don't think these terms are used consistently enough that it is a good idea to argue by definition. In particular, I think Eliezer is right to equivocate on whether he is a realist. He certainly rejects the description of his morality as "mind-dependent."
Yes, people who say that realists are cognitivists say that this is true by definition, but I don't think these terms are used consistently enough that it is a good idea to argue by definition.
I'm not trying to argue by definition: I'm just telling you what the terms means as they are used in the metaethical literature (where they're used plenty consistently). If someone wants to say they are a moral realist but not a cognitivist then I have no idea what they are because they're not using standard terminology. If someone doesn't fit into the boxes creat...
There seems to be a widespread impression that the metaethics sequence was not very successful as an explanation of Eliezer Yudkowsky's views. It even says so on the wiki. And frankly, I'm puzzled by this... hence the "apparently" in this post's title. When I read the metaethics sequence, it seemed to make perfect sense to me. I can think of a couple things that may have made me different from the average OB/LW reader in this regard: