mackie's argument against moral realism

scientific disagreements

can be resolved by sharing new evidence or performing new experiences to collect additional evidence

moral disagreements

cannot be settled with evidence, so the disagreements must be due to something else - different assumptions and beliefs based of peoples’ ways of life

argument from relativity

an argument against moral realism, arguing that moral relativity is evidence that there are no objective moral values

relativity in standard form

moral judgements are relative to each society, there are variations and radical differences

premise 2

alongside these radical differences, are disagreements between people about moral codes

premise 3

moral disagreements may occur between people because

1. there are moral objective values, but people’s perception of them are distorted in various ways for example due to inadequate evidence

2. there are no objective moral values, they are simply reflections of different ways of life

conclusion

the best explanation for moral disagreements is that there are no objective moral values