Any theory claiming that certain utterances have meaning by describing (or purporting to describe) some aspect of reality rather than in various other ways (for example, prescriptivism and emotivism).
In practice the term is confined to ethical utterances. ‘Lying is wrong’ and ‘You ought not to lie’ both purport to state moral facts, though descriptivism leaves it open whether they are reducible to facts of another kind (naturalism, for example).
Source:
R M Hare, ‘Descriptivism’, Proceedings of the British Academy (1963); critical
Table of Contents
- 1 Videos
- 2 Related Products
- 2.1 Descriptivism: How Grammar Really Works
- 2.2 The Meaning of 'Ought': Beyond Descriptivism and Expressivism in Metaethics (Oxford Moral Theory)
- 2.3 The Golden Age of Philosophy of Science 1945 to 2000: Logical Reconstructionism, Descriptivism, Normative Naturalism, and Foundationalism
- 2.4 DESCRIPTIVISM Annual Philosophical Lecture, British Academy
- 2.5 TOWARD A STRUCTURAL THEORY OF LITERARY ANALYSIS Prolegomena to Evaluative Descriptivism
- 2.6 Teaching the History of the English Language (Options for Teaching Book 46)
- 2.7 Revising Fiction, Fact, and Faith: A Philosophical Account (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)
- 2.8 Wittgenstein and Naturalism (Wittgenstein's Thought and Legacy Book 3)
- 2.9 A Short Guidebook to Philosophy
- 2.10 The Feeling of Value: Moral Realism Grounded in Phenomenal Consciousness
Videos
Descriptivism: How Grammar Really Works
- Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
- Anne Curzan (Actor)
- Anne Curzan (Writer) - Anne Curzan (Producer)
- English (Playback Language)
- English (Subtitle)
The Meaning of 'Ought': Beyond Descriptivism and Expressivism in Metaethics (Oxford Moral Theory)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Chrisman, Matthew (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 280 Pages - 10/23/2015 (Publication Date) - Oxford University Press (Publisher)
The Golden Age of Philosophy of Science 1945 to 2000: Logical Reconstructionism, Descriptivism, Normative Naturalism, and Foundationalism
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Losee, John (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 328 Pages - 12/27/2018 (Publication Date) - Bloomsbury Academic (Publisher)
DESCRIPTIVISM Annual Philosophical Lecture, British Academy
- Hare, R. M. (Author)
- 04/05/1963 (Publication Date) - Oxford University Press (Publisher)
TOWARD A STRUCTURAL THEORY OF LITERARY ANALYSIS Prolegomena to Evaluative Descriptivism
- Heller, L. G. / MacRis, James (Author)
- 04/05/1970 (Publication Date) - Institute for Systems Analysis (Publisher)
Teaching the History of the English Language (Options for Teaching Book 46)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- English (Publication Language)
- 493 Pages - 05/01/2019 (Publication Date) - The Modern Language Association of America (Publisher)
Revising Fiction, Fact, and Faith: A Philosophical Account (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)
- Hardcover Book
- Goldberg, Nathaniel (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 208 Pages - 07/01/2020 (Publication Date) - Routledge (Publisher)
Wittgenstein and Naturalism (Wittgenstein's Thought and Legacy Book 3)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- English (Publication Language)
- 348 Pages - 01/17/2018 (Publication Date) - Routledge (Publisher)
A Short Guidebook to Philosophy
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Banerjee, Debashri (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 136 Pages - 12/22/2019 (Publication Date)
The Feeling of Value: Moral Realism Grounded in Phenomenal Consciousness
- Rawlette, Sharon Hewitt (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 252 Pages - 06/25/2016 (Publication Date) - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (Publisher)
Last update 2020-04-05. Price and product availability may change.