Rationalism, Realism, and Relativism: Perspectives in Contemporary Moral Epistemology
During the 1970s and 1980s, the field of ethics underwent a profound change in perspective from noncognitivism to cognitivism regarding moral judgments and reasoning. Although metaethical noncognitivism had been the predominant point of view during the previous three decades, a series of attacks had undermined its authority by the 1970s, and it gave way to the cognitivist belief that moral judgments have truth values. This book provides a descriptive and critical guide to the often bewildering scene that resulted from these controversies in contemporary moral epistemology