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Single Idea 22377

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / b. Fact and value ]

Full Idea

Whether a man is speaking of behaviour as rude or not rude, he must use the same criteria as anyone else. ...We have here an example of a non-evaluative premise from which an evaluative conclusion can be deduced.

Gist of Idea

Whether someone is rude is judged by agreed criteria, so the facts dictate the value

Source

Philippa Foot (Moral Arguments [1958], p.104)

Book Ref

Foot,Philippa: 'Virtues and Vices' [Blackwell 1981], p.104

A Reaction

We would now call 'rude' a 'thick' ethical concept (where 'good' is 'thin'). Her powerful point is, I take it, that evidence is always relevant to judgements of thick concepts, so there is no fact-value gap. 'Rude' has criteria, but 'good' may not.

Related Idea

Idea 22376 Facts and values are connected if we cannot choose what counts as evidence of rightness [Foot]

The 25 ideas with the same theme [distinction between what is and what ought to be]:

4547 Plato measured the degree of reality by the degree of value [Nietzsche on Plato]
4581 Virtues and vices are like secondary qualities in perception, found in observers, not objects [Hume]
4008 Modern science has destroyed the Platonic synthesis of scientific explanation and morality [Hume, by Taylor,C]
8067 The problem of getting to 'ought' from 'is' would also apply in getting to 'owes' or 'needs' [Anscombe on Hume]
4578 You can't move from 'is' to 'ought' without giving some explanation or reason for the deduction [Hume]
5576 We cannot derive moral laws from experience, as it is the mother of illusion [Kant]
22203 Only facts follow from facts [Husserl]
22155 We are disenchanted because we rely on science, which ignores values [Weber, by Boulter]
20748 We do not add value to naked things; its involvement is disclosed in understanding it [Heidegger]
20928 Facts don't oppose values; they are integrated into each person's aspirations [Gadamer, by Zimmermann,J]
23434 There is no fact-value gap in 'owls should see in the dark' [Foot]
22487 Moral arguments are grounded in human facts [Foot]
22377 Whether someone is rude is judged by agreed criteria, so the facts dictate the value [Foot]
22378 We can't affirm a duty without saying why it matters if it is not performed [Foot]
22376 Facts and values are connected if we cannot choose what counts as evidence of rightness [Foot]
22491 Moral evaluations are not separate from facts, but concern particular facts about functioning [Foot]
7624 The word 'inconsiderate' nicely shows the blurring of facts and values [Putnam]
4135 Some ethical ideas, such as 'treachery' and 'promise', seem to express a union of facts and values [Williams,B]
3835 If it is true, you ought to believe it [Searle]
3836 If this is a man, you ought to accept similar things as men [Searle]
8012 The value/fact logical gulf is misleading, because social facts involve values [MacIntyre]
21837 Morality is normative because it identifies best practices among the normal practices [Flanagan]
4937 Systems that generate a sense of value are basic to the primitive brain [Edelman/Tononi]
4770 Nothing is more usual than to apply to external bodies every internal sensation which they occasion [Psillos]
22156 The facts about human health are the measure of the values in our lives [Boulter]