THE SUBJECTIVIST CONSEQUENCES OF EXPRESSIVISM

Abstract

Abstract Jackson and Pettit argue that expressivism in metaethics collapses into subjectivism. A sincere utterer of a moral claim must believe that she has certain attitudes to be expressed. The truth‐conditions of that belief then allegedly provide truth‐conditions also for the moral utterance. Thus, the expressivist cannot deny that moral claims have subjectivist truth‐conditions. Critics have argued that this argument fails as stated. I try to show that expressivism does have subjectivist repercussions in a way that avoids the problems of the Jackson‐Pettit argument. My argument, based on the norms for asserting moral sentences, attempts to tie expressivists to a more modest form of subjectivism than the previous arguments.