Single Idea 8012

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

Full Idea

One reason why it is highly misleading to talk of a logical gulf between value and fact....is that we cannot characterize the social life of a tribe in their factual terms and escape their evaluations.

Gist of Idea

The value/fact logical gulf is misleading, because social facts involve values

Source

Alasdair MacIntyre (A Short History of Ethics [1967], Ch.10)

Book Reference

MacIntyre,Alasdair: 'A Short History of Ethics' [Routledge 1967], p.124


A Reaction

Personally I like the objection that facts about functions cannot avoid the value of good functions, but this is very good. It is much better than simply trying to find a specific counterexample, such as facts about promises. Values just are facts.