C-008MetaethicsConfidence: Medium
Constructivism About Reasons
Street (2008)
One-Sentence Thesis
The author argues for a metaethical constructivist view, which holds that the value of things depends on our taking them to be valuable, but also acknowledges that normative judgments can be in error.
Argument Outline
- 1Introduction to the debate between normative realism and antirealism
- 2Presentation of the author's metaethical constructivist view
- 3Distinction between restricted and thoroughgoing constructivism in ethics
- 4Characterization of constructivist views in ethics as understanding correctness or incorrectness of normative judgments as a question of withstanding scrutiny from the standpoint of further normative judgments
Key Distinctions
Normative realism vs. antirealism
Restricted constructivism vs. thoroughgoing/metaethical constructivism
Key Terms
Metaethical constructivism
The view that the value of things depends on our taking them to be valuable, and that normative judgments can be in error, but the standards of correctness are ultimately set by our own normative judgments
Normative realism
The view that normative truths hold independently of our evaluative attitudes
Antirealism
The view that normative truths do not hold independently of our evaluative attitudes
Flashcards
57 cardsRelated Questions
3
In Street's "Constructivism About Reasons", Russ Shafer-Landau criticizes which of the following?
4
What is the author's view on the nature of normative truths?
3
In Street's "Constructivism About Reasons", Normative Judgment depends on which of the following?
4
Which of the following does Street contrasts with in "Constructivism About Reasons"?
4
In Street's "Constructivism About Reasons", Scanlon defines which of the following?
3
In Street's "Constructivism About Reasons", Rawls asserts which of the following?