ABSTRACT

An important function of language is to create and develop interpersonal relationships in communication. Metaethical contextualism treats the context-dependence as a dependence of the semantic content of morally speaking on features of the context of use, those features that determine a relevant body of moral norms. Contextualists differ on which norms are "relevant" in different contexts of use. This chapter focuses on normative uses of language. Contextualism, in this sense, sometimes goes under the heading of "Metaethical Relativism". There are two main classes of linguistic data that have been thought problematic for contextualism: first, discourse phenomena involving agreement and disagreement; and second, the interpretation of normative language in certain complex linguistic environments, such as in attitude ascriptions and indirect speech reports. The chapter examines the discourse properties of normative language, and presents a standard version of the argument from disagreement.