An Investigation of the Threefold Aspects of Ethical Non-Realism; Based on Rational Positivism and Analytic Philosophy

Carnap's imperativism, Ayer’s and Stevenson's emotivism, and Hare's prescriptivism are unrealistic schools that, despite some differences, agrees on denying the reality of moral values based on the positivist approach and analytic philosophy. In fact, these three schools are different aspects of an intellectual approach, which, by insisting on the principle of empirical provability on the one hand, and the analysis of the meaning of words with an empirical approach on the other hand, explain the reality or unreality of different affairs. This, in the realm of ethics, has led them plunge into the abyss of ethical non-realism. Hare is not a positivist but an advocate of analytic philosophy, the empirical approach is manifest in the ethical positions of this philosopher too. Basically, all analytic philosophers share such an approach. The lack of attention to abstract realities including moral values are among the main causes of this mistake as well as most of the mistakes made by the Western philosophers. Explaining and reviewing the three above mentioned schools, this paper shows their flaws and criticisms.