Abstract

The paper argues that to do justice to questions of objectivity that arise within and about moral discourse, we must take into account that this discourse is embedded within a somewhat conventionally regimented practice that comprises attempts to guide attitude and action by way of justifying, criticizing, validating, or excusing them. The appropriate condition of objectivity rules out a specific narrow kind of response-dependence that would run counter to this kind of guiding role for moral verdicts. The relevant condition is identified (the discourse- and practice-independence condition or, for short, the DP-independence condition).