Final answer:
The philosophical view that moral statements are expressions of emotions or attitudes and not factual claims is known as emotivism, as proposed by A. J. Ayer. This view relates to the broader non-cognitivist approach to ethics, which contrasts with moral realism and other theories that suggest moral statements can be objectively true or false.
Step-by-step explanation:
The view that moral statements are neither true nor false but are instead expressions of emotions or attitudes is called emotivism. This philosophical viewpoint falls under the broader category of non-cognitivism, which holds that moral statements do not articulate facts or true propositions but rather express the speaker's attitudes and emotions toward the subject. English philosopher A. J.
Ayer was a key proponent of emotivism, suggesting that when individuals make moral statements, such as "Killing innocent people is bad," they are not stating a fact but are expressing how they feel about the act of killing. This contrasts with positions like moral realism, which posits that moral claims can be objectively true or false.
Emotivism is implicated in discussions of moral psychology, ethics, and metaethics, where the nature and meaning of moral judgments are examined.
An understanding of emotivism can contribute to debates on moral relativism, the idea that moral statements can only be true or false relative to specific cultural or individual frameworks, and moral skepticism, which questions the objectivity of moral statements. It is also essential to contrast emotivism with other ethical theories like natural law theory, which argues that morals are objective and derive from nature itself.