As seen online:
“On the one side, we have the cognitivists, and on the other the non-cognitivists. These two factions of metaethicists are sitting on either side of what we could call the cognitive gap.
Cognitivists ... all agree that moral judgments express cognitive (that is, intellectual) states which track mind-independent moral properties such as rightness and wrongness. These moral properties are thought by the speakers to be part of objective reality.
... Non-cognitivists argue, conversely, that emotional and expressive (that is, non-intellectual) mental states must be underlying moral language. By the non-cognitivist interpretation, we are not picking up on any moral facts of the situation when we make moral assertions ... we are simply expressing our personal emotions or convictions about moral issues. Non-cognitivists claim that by saying ‘Killing is wrong’, we in fact mean something like ‘Boo to killing!’ or ‘Don’t kill!’ ”
— from The Cognitive Gap | Issue 156 | Philosophy Now as of 15 March 2026
