Mackie's Error Theory: A Wittgensteinian Critique

Abstract: I start by arguing that Mackie’s claim that there are no objective values is a
nonsensical one. I do this by ‘assembling reminders’ of the correct use of the term ‘values’ and
by examining the grammar of moral propositions à la Wittgenstein. I also examine Hare’s
thought experiment which is used to demonstrate “that no real issue can be built around the
objectivity or otherwise of moral values” before briefly looking at Mackie’s ‘argument from
queerness’. In the final section I propose that Robert Arrington’s ‘conceptual relativism’,
inspired by Wittgenstein, helps to make our use of moral language more perspicuous and avoids
the problems faced by Mackie.