Prescriptivity is a term used in
meta-ethics
In metaphilosophy and ethics, meta-ethics is the study of the nature, scope, and meaning of moral judgment. It is one of the three branches of ethics generally studied by philosophers, the others being normative ethics (questions of how one ou ...
to state that when an evaluative judgment or decision is made it must either prescribe or condemn. The word implies that these judgments (and the prescription and condemnation) logically commit us to certain ways of living. Contrary to popular opinion, prescriptivity does not just describe or categorize decisions - for example, "you ought to do this" (used evaluatively)
logically entails the imperative "do this."
Universal Prescriptivism
Prescriptivity is one of the five (prescriptivity, universalizability, overridingness, publicity, and practicability) axioms of Formal
Ethics
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ...
. When combined with Universalizability, prescriptivity becomes
Universal prescriptivism. Universal prescriptivism combines these two methods of thinking, combining evaluative judgments (which commit us to making similar judgments about similar cases) and prescription and condemnation when the judgment is at last made. This enables us to think in a very powerful and
rational
Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reasons. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an abil ...
way about ethical and moral issues.
See also
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R. M. Hare
References
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External links
Universal axioms
Metaethics
Concepts in ethics
Concepts in logic
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