Preliminaries

Abstract

Abstract This book’s core concern will be to argue that without having to embrace the questionable metaphysical commitments of robust normative realism or libertarian free will we can make sense of the possibility of a moral community: a community of rational creatures, living lives together regulated by shared normative standards and understandings that shape their expectations of each other and holding each other responsible for their actions in the light of those shared standards and understandings. We can imagine this moreover without supposing the people who comprise this community to commit any errors, believe any fictions, live any lies, or be subject to any illusions. In my central metaethical argument I shall seek to make sense of our normative thought in a way rooted in our culture and the passions in our souls, a way that avoids the dubious metaphysical claims of robust normative realism without giving way to any kind of normative or moral scepticism.