Moral Functionalism

Sometimes we go from information couched in nonmoral terms to verdicts couched in moral terms. Sometimes we move back and forth between characterizations couched in moral terms. Sometimes our opinions about how things are, expressed in moral terms, lead us to action. Moral functionalism treats this tripartite structure of input clauses, internal role clauses, and output clauses as the key to understanding moral language. This chapter explains how moral functionalism: (i) enables the use of Ramsey sentences to account for the distinctive way in which the moral supervenes on the nonmoral; (ii) helps us understand how we learn the meanings of moral terms; (iii) explains the utility of moral language, which in turn allows us to make sense of why it evolved; (iv) helps us understand what inspires the “unifiers” in ethics, the utilitarians, for example; and (v) tells us what it takes to be a moral realist.