ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we begin to explore nonnaturalism. This theory starts in metaphysics with the claim that objective ethical facts really obtain (realism), and these are importantly different from natural facts (hence the name "nonnaturalism"). Proponents of the view are usually motivated by the thought that there is an objective fact of the matter about many ethical issues, and ethical modes of thought and inquiry about these facts are importantly different from the empirical modes of thought and inquiry that we use to know about the natural world. Characteristically, an ethical nonnaturalist will argue that, although empirical evidence might feed into ethical deliberation, the fundamental facts about what's good/bad, right/wrong, virtuous/vicious are not empirically knowable facts: ethical facts are their own sort of fact which we have to discover (when we can) in the special way characteristic of ethical thought and deliberation.
