Courage for example, may be given a rough characterization in descriptive terms as '...opposing danger to promote a valued end'.
At the same time, characterizing someone as courageous typically involves expressing an attitude of esteem or a "pro-attitude", or a (prima facie) good-making quality – i.e. an evaluative statement.
Descriptive concepts such as water, gold, length and mass are commonly believed to pick out features of the world rather than provide reasons for action, whereas evaluative concepts such as right and good are commonly believed to provide reasons for action rather than picking out genuine features of the world.
[5] It is, on this view, in principle possible to construct a completely descriptive concept – i.e. without evaluative force – that picked out the same features of the world.
This account of thick concepts has been criticized by other theorists, notably of moral realist persuasion.