  Second, the causal reference theory for moral language is essential to the Cornell realists’ methodological and epistemological commitments. If moral goodness is the thing that regulates our use of moral terminology, then the terms of our empirical investigation are simple: we just investigate what regulates the use of our moral language. But if the moral facts are not (necessarily) the facts that regulate the use of our moral language, then which facts are they? We need an answer to that question before we can proceed with any empirical inquiry into morality. Consider: If, for half of the world’s population, their use of the word ‘water’ were causally regulated by the odorless tasteless stuff that fills rivers and lakes, but, for the other half of the world, ‘water’ were causally regulated by the intoxicating liquid found in wine, beer, and liquor, Lavoisier would have had no methodological basis for concluding that water is H\(_2\)O (rather than C\(_2\)H\(_6\)O.)