The subjectivist account of morality

• Our beliefs about the physical universe and other objective phenomena are empirically verifiable.

• Our beliefs about what is good and bad, moral and immoral, reflect our desires, our concerns. They describe how we feel or what we want, not how things are.

• Sentiment versus fact

Moral Conflict

Michele Bachman Matt Foreman

Advancing the cause of freedom, justice and equality for GLBT people

Simple subjectivism

• X is good = I approve of x. X is bad =

I disapprove of xDenies that moral disagreement occurs.

Implies that no one can have a false moral belief (or a true one).

• Emotivism: Moral conflicts do not reflect disagreement about matters of fact, they are conflicts about desires. Michele wants gay people to stop being gay, and Matt wants equal rights for LGBT people.

Moral Reasoning

• What is the connection between fact and sentiment?

• What are desires for?• What factual claims do

Michele and Matt disagree about?

• Proving a test unfair.

• What is it to provide reasons to support a value

claim?Freedom of religion and

freedom of the press are values every modern society should protect.

The case of homosexuality• To say that homosexuals

should not act on their desires is to condemn them to frustrating lives. (Rachels)

• Opposition to gay rights: A danger to society?

• Unnatural?– Statistically rare?– Non-procreative?– Wrong?Contrary to family values?Condemned by the Bible?Moral reasoning is about

weighing reasons and basing moral beliefs on those reasons- it isn’t about following our feelings.