Hume Society Guest Speaker: Paul Horwich, New York University

Title: Deflationary Meta-ethics

Abstract: My talk will sympathetically explore a Wittgenstein-inspired view of morality – one that combines recognition of the non-natural character of basic moral concepts (such as OUGHT), the existence of moral facts, and the dim prospects for moral knowledge. This perspective will derive from applying, to ethical (= moral) discourse, Wittgenstein’s deflationism about TRUTH and FACT, his conception of meaning as ‘use’, anti-theoretical, ‘quietist’ meta-philosophy, his pragmatist view of language as a useful multi-purpose instrument, and his pluralistic appreciation of the variety of functions, types of concept, and norms of belief that this instrument needs to encompass.