Załuski Wojciech, Why Moral Norms Cannot be Reduced to Facts: On a Trilemma in Derivations of Moral "Ought" from "Is"

One may endeavour to realize the (arguably) main task of ethical reflection – that of justifying moral norms – in two different ways, viz. either by embedding moral norms in normative statements (that is: the less specific moral norms in the more general ones) or in factual statements. The first approach encounters the notorious difficulty which consists in that in creating a „logical chain” of moral norms (in which every preceding – higher-level – norm is a direct basis for the derivation of the next one – a lower-level, more specific norm) we reach the most fundamental („highest-level”) moral norm(s) which cannot be derived from any other norm. This most fundamental moral norm(s) cannot therefore be...