Meta Ethics

Question 1

Meta Ethics

Answer 1

What do we mean by ‘right’ and ‘wrong’?
Do independent moral properties exist?
What do moral judgements mean?

Question 2

Moral Realism

Answer 2

There are objective moral properties and facts

Question 3

Moral Anti-Realism

Answer 3

There are no objective moral properties and facts

Question 4

Cognitivism

Answer 4

Moral judgments express cognitive mental states and can be true or false

Question 5

Non-Cognitivism

Answer 5

Moral judgements express non-cognitive mental states and are not capable of being true or false

Question 6

Ethical Naturalism Properties

Answer 6

Cognitivist - moral judgements express beliefs that are capable of being true or false
Realist - moral properties exist (these are natural properties)

Question 7

Ethical Naturalism

Answer 7

Moral truths operate like scientific truths
You can treat an ethical statement in the same way you would treat a scientific statement
e.g., ‘Hitler was a bad person’ - you would verify it by gathering evidence

Question 8

Ethical Naturalism - ‘murder is wrong’

Answer 8

Expresses a cognitive belief that murder is wrong where ‘wrong’ refers to a natural property

Question 9

Example of Ethical Naturalism

Answer 9

Utilitarianism says that ‘good’ can be reduced to pleasure and ‘bad’ can be reduced to pain
Hedonic Naturalists would say that the definition of good is pleasure

Question 10

How does J. Rachels define good?

Answer 10

Whatever satisfies our interests is good

Question 11

Ethical Non-Naturalism Properties

Answer 11

Cognitivist - moral judgements are beliefs that are intended to be true or false
Realist - moral properties exist (these are non-natural properties)

Question 12

Ethical Non-Naturalism

Answer 12

Ethical sentences express propositions
e.g., to state that Hitler is bad you still need to define what you mean by the term ‘bad’

Question 13

Ethical Non-Naturalism - ‘murder is wrong’

Answer 13

Expresses a cognitive belief that murder is wrong where ‘wrong’ refers to a non-natural property

Question 14

Ethical Non-Naturalism Quote - G. E. Moore

Answer 14

‘it cannot be defined, ‘good’ has no definition because it’s simple and has no parts’ - Principa Ethica 1903

Question 15

Ethical Non-Naturalism - Naturalistic Fallacy

Answer 15

G. E. Moore describes equating goodness with a natural property as a naturalistic fallacy
You can’t logically jump from a natural statement to a moral statement
David Hume also argues that you can’t derive ought statement from an is statement

Question 16

Ought Statement

Answer 16

A moral statement that you’re obligated to do

Question 17

Is Statement

Answer 17

A factual statement

Question 18

Open Question

Answer 18

The answer isn’t included in the question
e.g., George is my brother but is he a teacher at Harvard?

Question 19

Ethical Non-Naturalism - Intuitionism

Answer 19

G. E. Moore believed you can use the process of moral intuition to verify a moral statement
Goodness can only be detected by our intuition

Question 20

Ethical Non-Cognitivism Properties

Answer 20

Non-Cognitive - moral judgements aren’t supposed to be taken as true or false
Anti-Realist - moral properties don’t exist

Question 21

Emotivism

Answer 21

Moral judgements express feelings of approval or disapproval
e.g., ‘Hitler is bad’ doesn’t involve facts, it just expresses how you feel about the topic

Question 22

What does Hume believe in accordance to emotivism?

Answer 22

Judgements of reason don’t motivate us to act in any way, instead it’s emotions and desires that motivate us to act
e.g., my belief that ‘murder is wrong’ will motivate me not to murder
Ethical statements are pseudo-concepts and therefore are not factual

Question 23

Emotivism - A. J. Ayer

Answer 23

Moral judgements fail the verification principle and therefore are meaningless
Moral judgements simply express feelings of approval or disapproval and seek to evoke the same feelings in others

Question 24

Prescriptivism

Answer 24

Moral judgements express instructions that aim to guide behaviour
When someone says that ‘murder is wrong’ they’re effectively saying ‘don’t murder people’

Question 25

Prescriptivism - R. M. Hare

Answer 25

Moral judgements are to guide conduct
e.g., ‘stealing is wrong’ implies the imperative ‘don’t steal’