Evaluative Term and a Descriptive Term

The difference between an evaluative term and a descriptive term is not always obvious. To see this, consider the terms “homicide” and “murder.” The words are closely related but do not mean the same thing. “Homicide” is a descriptive term meaning “the killing of a human being.” “Murder” is an evaluative term meaning, in part at least, “the wrongful killing of a human being.” It takes more to show that something is a murder than it does to show that something is a homicide.

Just as it is easy to miss evaluative terms because we fail to recognize the evaluative component built into their meanings, it is also possible to inter- pret neutral words as evaluative because of positive or negative associations that the words might evoke. The word “nuclear,” for example, has bad con- notations for some people because of its association with bombs and wars, but the word itself is purely descriptive. To call people nuclear scientists is not to say that they are bad in any way. The test for an evaluative term is this: Does the word mean that something is good or bad (right or wrong) in a particular way?