Abstract

The paper proposes as a to-be-recommended meaning for “A is wrong”: “A would be prohibited by any moral code or system which all rationa1 persons would prefer to any other moral system, or to none, for a society in which they believed they and/or their children would spend their lives”. The term “rational” is to mean “vividly aware, over a period of time, so as to influence desires”. It is not contended that this proposal expresses what people actually mean by their moral terms; it is suggested that people would respect moral claims if moral statements were so construed.