Ethical cognitivism and non-cognitivism

Meta-ethics asks not what is right, but what moral language means and whether moral judgments can be true or false. Cognitivism says they can: moral sentences express beliefs that are true or false. Non-cognitivism denies this, holding that moral sentences express attitudes, prescriptions or commitments rather than beliefs. For example, on a cognitivist view, stealing is wrong states a fact, while on an emotivist view it mainly expresses disapproval of stealing.