Moral values are interesting creatures. This is especially so when we see people having lively discussions regarding them. Most people believe that moral values are derived from convention, society or some other utilitarian sources. But, if they are derived from these sources, the only discussions we can have regarding them is whether we prefer one or the other. Yet, ironically, this is far from what people have in mind when they have this sort of discussion. They intend to demonstrate by the volume of their voice or their well-intentioned reasons that some or all of their moral values are right and the other person’s are wrong.

If moral values do come from convention, society or some other utilitarian source they can’t truly be wrong can they? What does wrong actually mean in this context? Well, wrong in the classical sense usually means we’ve erred or are mistaken. However, if moral values actually derive from the sources above then it follows that there will be a plurality of conventions, societal mandates and so on. If this is the case how can we really say that some are wrong? Instead all we’re really saying is that we don’t particularly prefer “their” moral values. But this is like criticizing someone’s preference in cars and hair color (hi Keith!). It becomes almost pointless. The truth is, we don’t actually mean this when discussing moral values.

In order to use the term wrong appropriately we must have some measurement that is more fixed than “what works” or “what society tells us”. But placing moral values on something as unstable and dynamic as utility and society forces us to either drop this serious conversation or else consider alternatives to our theories of where moral values ultimately derive. Ground moral values on these changing conditions makes conversations about competing moral values pointless if not meaningless. Pointless because there isn’t much point in convincing me that my taste in ice cream is wrong. Meaningless because moral values based on the above criteria are incapable of being wrong or right, much less true or false. This is only the tip of a large iceberg.