Specific moral judgments such as "It is wrong for John to kill Peter" can be true because it violates the rule "It is morally wrong to kill innocent human beings." But rules and standards themselves aren't the kind of thing that can be true or false.

Suppose we had a rule that said "Turn out the lights when you leave the building." It isn't the sort of statement that can be true or false. It falls into a different category.

But if we cannot say that standards are true or false, we can say other things about them. For example:

• Standards are better or worse in some respect.
• Standards are applicable or inapplicable.
• Standards are accepted or rejected.
• Standards are conducive to human happiness or misery.

What I'm suggesting is that when we shift from moral judgments to moral standards or first principles, we can no longer talk about truth and falsity. We have to talk about something else.