Argument From Queerness
"The argument from queerness" is a term used in the philosophical study of ethics first developed by J. L. Mackie in his book Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong ISBN 0-14-013558-8 (1977).
Mackie argues against the view that there can be objective ethical values, and he uses the term to describe a certain sort of reductio ad absurdum which belief in such values implies. He states that "If there were objective values, then they would be entities or qualities or relations of a very strange sort, utterly different from anything else in the universe (1977, p. 38)". Hence Mackie argues that this in itself is sufficient reason for doubting their existence.
Read more about Argument From Queerness: The Argument, Responses and Criticisms, References and Further Reading
Other articles related to "argument from queerness, arguments, queerness":
... "Moral Realism and the Sceptical Arguments from Disagreement and Queerness", Australasian Journal of Philosophy 62(2) 111-125 ... "On the Genuine Queerness of Moral Properties and Facts", Australasian Journal of Philosophy 68(2) 137-46 ... "The Vanishing Argument from Queerness", Australasian Journal of Philosophy 86(3) 371-87 ...
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