Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mehrshad Rezaee ¹
• Seyed Ali Kalantari ²
• Amir Ehsan Karbasizadeh ³

¹ PhD candidate- University of Isfahan- Department of Philosophy

² Department of philosophy, University of Isfahan

³ Associate professor of philosophy- University of Isfahan- Iran

Abstract

Cornell realism belongs to the new wave movements in ethical naturalism debates. What distinguishes Cornell realism from other ethical naturalism is that the thesis adopts an anti-reductionist approach towards ethical facts. Our aim in this paper is to consider the thesis based on Richard Boyd’s views who is the most well-known defender of the thesis. We try to show that Boyd’s proposal on the semantics of ethical terms can defuse both Moore’s open-question argument and constructivist relativism arguments. Along with considering Boyd’s thesis, we will consider the required premises of his argument like the idea of the natural kind, extensional identities, co-referentiality, and partial denotation.

Keywords

• Semantics of Moral Realism
• Cornell Realism
• Richard Boyd
• Open question argument
• Constructivist Relativism