Error theory

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In systematic philosophy, the term error theory denotes a type of metaphilosophical position relating to a certain subject area. An “error theory of morality”, for example, claims the metaethical thesis that moral statements such as “killing someone is morally bad”, correctly analyzed, imply a claim to objective truth, but that there are no truth makers for them in the actual world ; these statements are therefore incorrect, and the prevailing opposite assumption is therefore an “error”. This is how it is with all statements in the same subject area. In order to make such a position sufficiently plausible, it is usually necessary to provide a theoretical explanation of how the diagnosed “error” actually occurs, and the corresponding statements are true. In the case of moral statements, for example, it could be argued that holding them to be true can be reduced to corresponding preferences, the existence of which the metaethical error theorist does not deny.

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