Exactly what Henryp said. Look at it this way, it appears that the sun revolves around the Earth. And the ancients thought as much. So you had the Ptolemaic model of the universe. It worked... sorta. It got the job done, I guess. But it was ultimately false.
Later on, the Copernican model was introduced. Turns out the sun doesn't revolve around the Earth. The opposite is true. Now we know. Same thing with moral facts. Once you understand what the facts are, you know them, and can live accordingly.
Hopefully this example iterates my point:
The Quakers at one point wanted to improve conditions for prisoners. They thought that putting them all into solitary confinement would protect them from one anothers' savagery, and also give them time to reflect and attain peace. (Quakers practice meditation, and perhaps they thought solitary confinement would bring peace like meditation does.)
But it turns out, solitary confinement is actually destructive to a person's mental state rather than rehabilitative.
This is a moral fact: Putting people in solitary confinement long term is wrong. We didn't know before. Before we thought it was right. Now we know otherwise. And we can act accordingly.
Later on, the Copernican model was introduced. Turns out the sun doesn't revolve around the Earth. The opposite is true. Now we know. Same thing with moral facts. Once you understand what the facts are, you know them, and can live accordingly.
Hopefully this example iterates my point:
The Quakers at one point wanted to improve conditions for prisoners. They thought that putting them all into solitary confinement would protect them from one anothers' savagery, and also give them time to reflect and attain peace. (Quakers practice meditation, and perhaps they thought solitary confinement would bring peace like meditation does.)
But it turns out, solitary confinement is actually destructive to a person's mental state rather than rehabilitative.
This is a moral fact: Putting people in solitary confinement long term is wrong. We didn't know before. Before we thought it was right. Now we know otherwise. And we can act accordingly.
