Q&A: Moral Claims
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Moral Claims
Question
With God’s help,
are moral claims (for example, “It is forbidden to murder”) factual claims?
Thank you very much!
Answer
According to the definition I know, no. They can be treated as factual claims if you are a moral realist, that is, if you view moral values as moral facts (something objective that exists independently of us).
Discussion on Answer
In the standard view, these are normative claims. They do not describe something in the world, but rather instruct me to do or not do something. In the language of analytic philosophy, these are prescriptive claims (rather than descriptive ones).
Just to ask: as far as I know, the Rabbi is a moral realist, and assumes that they really do have truth-values of true or false. This is connected to the fourth notebook.
If so, what kind of claims are they?