Cornell Realism - Naturalistic Non-reductionism About Metaphysics

Naturalistic Non-reductionism About Metaphysics

See also: Naturalism (philosophy) and Reductionism

Moral facts are natural facts. They fall within the province of the natural and social sciences. But while they are not supernatural (as in divine command theory) and they are not non-natural (as in Moore's Principia Ethica or Mackie's picture of a realist world), they cannot be reduced to non-moral natural facts. That is, while moral facts are natural facts and supervene on non-moral natural facts, they cannot be identified with non-moral natural facts (see, e.g., Miller's An Introduction to Contemporary Metaethics).

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