META: EMOTIVISM Flashcards
What are the three types of statements Ayer believes in?
Logical (analytical), factual (synthetic) and moral.
Why is emotivism non-naturalism?
Because it reflects the view that morals tell you anything about the external world.
What claim does emotivism move away from?
The claim that moral language has some kind of absolute meaning.
What are morals only relative to according to Ayer?
Our feelings and emotions and therefore, cannot be verified through science or maths.
What do ‘good, bad, right and wrong’ express?
Approval or disapproval.
What is Ayer’s theory known as?
The ‘Boo’ ‘Hurrah’ Theory.
What was C.L. Stevenson interested in?
How moral statements are used and what results they are intended to produce.
What do moral judgements contain according to Stevenson?
An element that expresses an attitude relative to a fundamental belief and an element that seeks to persuade others.
What did Ayer state in response to Stevenson’s developments?
“And the man who is ostensibly contradicting me is merely expressing his moral statements … for neither of us is asserting a genuine proposition.”
What did Ayer see disagreements as?
Arguments based on preferences.
Alternatively, what did Stevenson see disagreements as?
Arguments based on individual beliefs.
What is the issue with emotivism being based on attitudes, upbringings and feelings?
Leads it to being ‘simply subjectivism’.
What does Rachel point out?
Moral judgements appeal to reasoning not just expressions of feelings.
What does MacIntyre question about Stevenson’s views?
How views are actually formed in the first place.
What did MacIntyre call emotivism? Why?
‘Opaque’ as it does not give any help in explaining how we can distinguish feelings and attitudes that are moral from feelings and attitudes we have.
