In primary and secondary education today, students are almost universally taught that there is a distinction between facts and opinions. In the first category are claims that can be proven by empirical evidence—e.g., George Washington was the first president, 1 + 1 = 2, and so forth—while in the second category are claims that (allegedly) cannot be proven by empirical evidence. These latter claims, students are told, include value claims. Because a moral claim is a value claim, it is an opinion and not a fact. Thus, under the fact/opinion there are no moral facts. But this view is deeply flawed. In this talk, Francis J. Beckwith explains the philosophical mistakes in the fact/opinion distinction and why you should believe that there are moral facts.
Instructor
Francis J. Beckwith, Ph.D.
