Objective Morality

Morality is necessarily objective.

Definitions

Moral norm: A statement prescribing what one ought to do.

Objective: Independent of any individual's preference, desire, or contingent condition.

Theorem

Premises:

1. A moral norm prescribes what one ought to do.
2. "Ought" cannot be derived from descriptive claims (The Is-Ought Problem).
3. Preferences, feelings, and cultural norms are descriptive claims.

Therefore, moral norms cannot depend on preference, feeling, or cultural condition. That which does not depend on preference or contingent condition is, by definition, objective.

Therefore, morality is necessarily objective.

Subjective Morality (Corollary)

If morality were subjective, moral norms would depend on preference. But a preference is a descriptive claim: "I prefer X" states what is the case, not what ought to be the case.

A system grounded in preference can only express "I prefer X," not "One ought to do X." It collapses into description and loses prescriptive force.

Subjective morality is self-contradictory: it attempts to prescribe while grounding itself in description.

Universality (Reinforcement)

Premises:

1. To assert a moral claim is to assert that all comparable agents ought to act accordingly.
2. A claim that cannot be universally applied contradicts itself: two agents under identical conditions could hold opposing obligations.
3. Contradictory obligations cannot both be true.

Therefore, morality requires universal applicability. Universality requires independence from individual preference. Independence from individual preference is objectivity.

Error Theory

Error theory claims that all moral statements are false. But this claim is self-undermining: to assert that moral claims are categorically false is to make a normative claim about the status of norms. The error theorist who objects to being harmed implicitly asserts that harm ought not to occur. Error theory cannot be held without contradiction.

2025-10-08 Aaron Brinton
2026-02-10 restructured; grounded in The Is-Ought Problem
2026-02-26 added Error Theory section