 From the start non-cognitivists have had an eye on both (i) the non-cognitive attitudes that are expressed in making a moral claim and (ii) what people are doing in making such claims. When focusing on the first, they emphasize that moral terms get their meaning not by their link to beliefs that represent the world as being a certain way, but by their connection to non-cognitive attitudes — e.g., reactions to the way the world is, or desires for how the world might be. Here their attention, in giving an account of the “meaning” of moral terms is on those terms' conventionally-established connection to certain attitudes. (Of course people can use such a term without actually having the corresponding attitudes, but understanding the term is a matter of seeing that it is a linguistically appropriate way to express the attitude.) When focusing on the second, non-cognitivists emphasize moral language's role as tool for influencing the others.  Here their attention is on in claiming that something is, say, wrong, people are consistently not just expressing their opposition to it but telling others not to do it, or working to persuade them not to, or in some other way working to direct action. The two ideas go together naturally, since if the first is right, then it would help explain why people can and do use moral language in the way the second suggests. But the ideas are separable. And many think that the expressivist idea advanced by the first goes to the heart of the matter, while thinking that concentrating on the directive or prescriptive use of moral language can at best be secondary.  