He was a large supporter of Emotivism, along with A. J. Ayer and Rudolf Carnap. In his The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms (1937), Persuasive Definitions (1938), and Ethics and Language (1944), he developed a theory of Emotive meaning which he then used to provide a foundation for his theory of a Persuasive definition. He furthermore advanced emotivism as a meta_ethical theory that sharply delineated between cognitive, scientific uses of language (used to state facts, give reasons, and subject to the laws of science) and non_cognitive (used to state feelings and exercise influence). Similar to the Hobbesiannaturalistic approach to subjectivism, Stevenson considered moral judgments (statements about ethics) to be about one's feelings, useful only in influencing others.
Stevenson was married to Cora McReynolds of Lincoln. In 1885 he and his wife moved to a farm south of Beverly where he lived until 1909. His wife died over thirty years ago leaving besides her husband, five sons.
Stevenson's funeral is to be held this Wednesday afternoon at 3 o'clock from the Lincoln Presbyterian church of which she was a member.
Stevenson was born Rebecca CRAWFORD at Williamsport, Pa., Oct. 6, 1856.
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