Abstract

What is the place of interpretation in ethical theory? What are the implications of interpretive understanding for moral understanding? Developing the notion of “Interpretive Realism,” I explore two central ideas: (1) that moral judgments are best understood as interpretations of meaning, and (2) that a hermeneutic approach to ethics supports, rather than undermines, moral realism. To counter the idea that moral language aims to describe independent moral facts, it is argued that moral interpretation shapes ethical intelligibility itself. The resulting view is a historically informed yet objective view of morality that respects contextual differences while still allowing for normative critique.