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Moral error theories are a family of views according to which moral thought and language are systematically erroneous. According to the standard moral error theory, ordinary moral discourse is committed to the existence of moral facts, while there are no such facts. The attitudes of moral error theorists towards moral discourse are analogous to the attitudes of atheists towards theistic discourse. If we become convinced that moral error theory is true, then what is to be done with moral discourse? This is the “now what” problem. According to abolitionism, moral discourse should be abolished, just like we have abolished the discourses about witches and phlogiston. The main alternatives to abolitionism are fictionalism and conservationism. Fictionalists suggest that instead of believing and asserting moral propositions, we should engage with morality like we engage with fiction. According to conservationism, we should continue as before, i.e. form (untrue) moral beliefs and make (untrue) moral assertions. In this course, we will examine the main arguments for moral error theories, in particular Mackie’s argument from queerness. And we will discuss the proposed solutions to the “now what” problem.   

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