OBJECTIVE PRESCRIPTIVITY

AND OBJECTIVE VALUES

A. Epistemological Properties of Beliefs

Objective To-Be-Believedness [Not-To-Be-Believedness]: This would be a property beliefs that everyone should believe [or should not believe] in the appropriate circumstances. For example, the Law of Non-Contradiction is a potential norm of not-to-be-believedness.

B. Non-Moral Properties of Goals and Actions

Objective Non-Moral To-Be-Pursuedness [or Not-To-Be-Pursuedness]: This would be a property of goals that it would be irrational, though not necessarily immoral, not to pursue [or to pursue] or a non-moral constraint on the goals to be pursued. For example the Strong or Weak Norm of Transitivity is a potential norm of Non-Moral To-Be-Pursuedness, because it is a rational constraint on preferences (goals).

Objective Non-Moral To-Be-Doneness [or Not-To-Be-Doneness]: This would be a property of actions that it would be irrational, though not necessarily immoral, to fail to perform [or to perform], in the appropriate circumstances. For example, the Instrumentalist Norm is a potential norm of non-moral to-be-doneness.

C. Moral Properties

Objective Moral To-Be-Pursuedness [or Not-To-Be-Pursuedness]: This would be property of goals that everyone morally should [or should not] pursue. For example, act utilitarians believe that the goal of maximizing overall utility is a moral goal that everyone should pursue.

Objective Moral To-Be-Doneness [or Not-To-Be-Doneness]: This would be a property of actions that everyone morally should perform [or should not perform]. For example, Kant thought that his categorical imperative was a moral norm that all rational agents should obey, regardless of whether they had any inclination to do so.

WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED ON THE NORMATIVE REALISM/ANTI-REALISM CONTINUUM?