cognitivism: naturalism

Question 1

fh braddeley

Answer 1

-doing ‘good’ can be defined as doing one’s ‘duty’ in life- discovered looking at what society does

Question 2

hegel’s theory of Geist

Answer 2

-some force that moves society forward. social change
-zeitgeist=whatever the current generally accepted worldview of society is
-within this is volksgeist=spirit or collective conscience of ppl that makes up society - defines morality

Question 3

J Bentham (1748-1832)

Answer 3

-hedonism-pleasure is ‘good’+the 2 r synonyms
-cant say one thing is always pleasurable for everyone
-should maximise pleasure bc its the good- hedonic utilitarianism
- for any ethical statement/language, it can be true or false depending on whether it maximised pleasure. Eg Hitler
-pleasure is a natural feature of natural creatures – e.g. brain chemicals. so good is natural property

Question 4

suppport: Epicurus- similar to jB

Answer 4

-a peaceful + happy life was most important

Question 5

support: Aristotle

Answer 5

-hedonist only wants pleasure
-we seek a fulfilling activity + the pleasure it gives us reinforces that
-hard to quantify

Question 6

absolutist

Answer 6

-good is fixed + we must pursue it
-can also be relativist: if I say what my society says is good then good is following societal norms
-natural fact
-eg cannibals remain canibals

Question 7

Bentham quote

Answer 7

“Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure”

Question 8

Philipa foot

Answer 8

-drew on Aristotles idea: the natural world includes a good way of doing stuff. It offers patterns of excellence and defect, related to function and purpose of living things.
-These apply to morality: life cycle, Self maintenance and reproduction is achieved differently, from this norms can be deduced
- book ‘natural goodness’

Question 9

Philip foot quote - roots

Answer 9

‘oaks need to have deep sturdy roots: there is something wrong with them if they do not’.

Question 10

support: Aquinas- The Peripatetic axiom is:

against moore

Answer 10

“Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses”
-we know slavery is wrong bc we observed it

Question 11

CRITICISM: Humes fork- is/ought gap

Answer 11

-that which ‘is’ is not the same as that which ‘ought’ to be
-one’s societally-defined duty and what is morally ‘good’ are not automatically the same thing
-j bc human nature finds pleasure good doesn’t mean pleasure IS good

Question 12

CRITICISM: GE Moore naturalistic fallacy

Answer 12

-fallacy (error) to assume that something being natural means that it is good
-doesnt mean pleasure is good

Question 13

CRITICISM: GE Moore open question argument

Answer 13

-logical error- if goodness=pleasure then pleasure=pleasure
1)synthetic 2)analytic
so goodness can’t =pleasure
-goodness can’t be defined-cant be identical to natural thing- otherwise make this error
-open question of what goodness is
closed question can be defined thru identity eg triangle has 3 sides

Question 14

counterpoint to Moore open question: Mackie

Answer 14

-in Moore’s time philosophers were too optimistic in thinking that linguistic analysis could tell us metaphysical truths
-cant analyse language + come to certain conclusion. our concepts could be diff to reality

Question 15

counterpoint to Hume n Moore: inductive argument

Answer 15

-‘human nature to find pleasure good’- not proving/meaning its good, just evidence pleasure being good
-Mill (similar to Bentham)- pleasure=happiness, more inductive argument calling it ‘the only proof possible’

Question 16

strengths

Answer 16

-allows for individual realisation
-scientific evidence
-