Naturalism, Ethical

AbstractOn its most common characterization, ethical naturalism is the thesis that ethical properties exist and are natural. This makes the thesis metaphysical and realist. (Roughly,ethical realismis the thesis that genuinely ethical properties exist;seeRealism, Moral; Non‐Cognitivism; Prescriptivism; Projectivism.) Importantly different ethical views have been categorized by their champions as naturalist, however. Some see ethical naturalism as primarily involving a metaphysical commitment (e.g., Gibbard 1990; Brink 1989; Boyd 1988), others as involving methodological commitments (e.g., Copp 2003). Some see ethical naturalism as requiring commitment to the existence of ethical properties (e.g., Brink 1989; Boyd 1988), others don't (e.g., Gibbard 1990; Blackburn 1988).