Editing Non-cognitivism (section)

==Varieties==
[[Emotivism]], associated with [[A. J. Ayer]], the [[Vienna Circle]] and [[C. L. Stevenson]], though first defended by [[Axel Hägerström]] in the early 1900s, suggests that ethical sentences are primarily emotional expressions of one's own attitudes and  are intended to influence the actions of the listener.  Under this view, "Killing is wrong" is translated as "Killing, boo!" or "I disapprove of killing."

A close cousin of emotivism, developed by [[R. M. Hare]], is called [[universal prescriptivism]]. Prescriptivists interpret ethical statements as being universal ''imperatives'', prescribing behavior for all to follow. According to prescriptivism, 
phrases like "Thou shalt not murder!" or "Do not steal!" are the clearest expressions of morality, while reformulations like "Killing is wrong" tend to obscure the meaning of moral sentences.

Other forms of non-cognitivism include [[Simon Blackburn]]'s [[quasi-realism]] and [[Allan Gibbard]]'s norm-expressivism.