Facts, Values and the Gap Between Them
No list of facts about the world adds up on its own to a claim about what should happen. Every moral argument therefore smuggles in a value somewhere, and finding where is the useful skill.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Separate the factual claims from the value claims in a short argument
- Explain why an argument that runs only on facts cannot reach a should
- Identify the hidden value premise in an argument that pretends to be purely practical
1 · Read
Some lines report the world and some judge it. Smoking raises cancer risk is a fact claim you can check with data. Smoking should be banned in parks is a value claim, and no lab test can settle it alone. Facts say what is. Values say what should be, what matters, and what is worth doing.
David Hume spotted the gap centuries ago. Writers slide from is to should without noticing the jump. No list of facts adds up on its own to a claim about what should happen. So whenever a should appears in the conclusion, hunt for the should hiding in the premises.
Take a practical sounding case. Solar panels would save the town money, so the town should buy them. The saving is a fact. The should smuggles in a value: saving money matters most here. Name it, and the argument stands or falls on that value, not on the maths alone. Polling the town changes nothing. A poll reports what people approve of, which is one more fact.
Test any mixed argument with two piles. Sort each claim into is or should, then ask which should claim does the real pushing. If no should appears in your piles, the conclusion overreaches. Getting clear on that gap matters more than rushing to take a side.
Facts report what is, values judge what should be, and every should in a conclusion needs a should among its reasons.
2 · Watch
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Where it sits
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8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.