✅Meta-Ethics Flashcards
definition of absolutism
view that morals are fixed, unchanging truths that everyone should always follow
definition of relativism
moral truths aren’t fixed and are not absolute. what is right changes according to the individual etc.
definition of meta-ethics
looks at the language we use to express morality. asks what good/bad/right/wrong actually means as words.
definition of naturalism
belief that values can be defined in terms of some natural properties in the world. overcomes gap between nature and moral. falls to 2 categories: theological and hedonistic
definition of intuitionism
belief that moral truths are indefinable but self-evident. good is real, but not a natural fact.
definition of emotivism
belief that ethical terms evince approval or disapproval. The only non-cognitive theory. Cannot be verifiable.
cognitivism
good or bad are real things, based on absolute facts. they are universal and sensory experiences can verify them. human intuition or experience can discover it. statements of opinion are based on observation or experience data. they have meaning because they can be proved true or false. Includes naturalism and intuitionism.
non-cognitivism
good, bad, right or wrong have no actual existence and morality is relative. matter of feelings and personal opinions. has no intrinsic value. impossible to verify, they have no meaning as they cannot be proved true or false. includes emotivism.
Hume’s problem
is/ought. problem of logic. All men are mortal- premise. Socrates is a man-premise. Socrates is mortal-conclusion. you cant out anything beyond the premises into the conclusion. verb “to be” doesn’t contain “ought”. argues we have no justification to make jumps of how to behave, just because they know facts about human nature.
naturalism: Plato’s form of the Good
FOG fixed the meaning by taking it as a singular being. argued to have even greater reality than objects in our perception. For Plato, forms exist and our ability to describe things as good grounds reality.
CRITICISM: Plato’s FOG is outside natural world.
naturalism: Hedonism
belief that nothing is the good and nothing else is the good. “good” and “pleasure” and interchanagble” things.
Jeremy Bentham: pleasure is the good. naturally seek pleasure to avoid pain.
HOWEVER: pleasures change- if listen to CD over and over, doesn’t have the same pleasure. pleasures in children aren’t the same as in adults.
if pleasure is good, then evil is unpleasant, and you avoid pain.
hedonists believe pleasure is THE good, and nothing else.
naturalism: absolutism with naturalism
the view there is some things which are always obligatory. eg, absolutist theories of Kant, NML etc.
if we use naturalism, then you also need absolutism. shows how we should conduct ourselves ad actions that perform. if nature of good is fixed, then it seems as if we should always pursue it.»_space; need to maximise it- universal.
good is different in all societies, eg cannibalism in one will not be seen as good in another.
naturalism : naturalistic fallacy
MOORES interpretation. term for alleged error of assuming that good is a natural quality.
Principa ethica 1903. error of assuming good is identical with pleasure etc.
open question argument: we can say that something has a natural quality yet we can still significantly ask whether it is good or not.
X is pleasant, but is it good? you cant say X is good, but is it good?
Plato and Aristotle: point this out as well. we can say bad pleasure, but you cant say bad good.
naturalism basics
absolutist, right and wrong are fixed: cognitive. morals are the same-facts- they aren’t different opinions, but are facts of the natural world.
treats ethical statements the same as non-ethical statements. verified and falsified.
naturalism: AQUINAS
ethical naturalist. use reason and powers of observations to access facts about what is moral or immoral. theological naturalist- thought goodness comes from the WILL OF GOD- eternal law.
summa theologica: fundamental goods to which all humans are inclined. to achieve heaven, its necessary for each person to live a life in harmony with these goods. POWER: general rules that humans are inclined to follow.
secondary precepts: practical applications to POWER. requires reason and argument.
synderesis rule- do good and avoid evil.
naturalism: F.H Bradley
“ethical studies 1876” ethics is something that can be explained by the concrete absolute reality we observe. place we hold on society directs what we should do. our duty I universal and concrete.
“identifies others and ourselves with the station we fill”
claims that morals are observable as part of the concrete world.
CRITICISM: highly questionable, 20th century saw radical changes in the west- roles of men and women changed. linked to family breakdowns however.
naturalism: Phillipa Foot
defends ethical naturalism by saying that we can observe morality when we see peoples behaviour. we call someone a good person or an honest person because of our observations- the virtues can be recognised. can see if an animal is a good example of its kind etc- can also see it in humans.
naturalism: HUME
Treatise of Human Nature
moral judgements are like judgements about heat or sound or colour. he said They come from perceptions and arise in the human mind, they are not facts that exists by themselves. argues there is no justification for moving what is to what ought to be. Humes Law: cannot derive an is from an ought.
naturalism: UT and NML
ethical naturalists are absolutists. right or wrong are fixed within the universe. ethical statements are on the same level as non-ethical statements. treat them the same. naturalistic view of meta ethics is supported by UT and NML. UT: murder is wrong and this is verifiable by the unhappiness of the people. NML: murder is wrong, verified by preventing POWER.
strengths of intuitionism
allows for objective moral values to be identified.
does propose a subjective or emotive approach.
difficult to specify exactly why the are wrong. interpret it through moral sense
identify a moral sense in same way as identifying aesthetic sense
allows for moral duties and obligations
links to idea of conscience
problems with intuitionism
people do intuit and reason to different conclusions
how can we be sure that our intuition is correct?
may be considered meaningless concept
Hume argues we have motivation for acting in certain ways.
problems with naturalism
doesn’t allow moral dispute
too simplistic
Bradleys concrete universe doesn’t add up to science.
G.E.Moore: any attempt to define ethical language in naturalistic terms is mistaken.
Charles R Pigdon
Non-cognitivists argue moral propositions didn’t actually exist.
Is social order a fixed thing? (Countering Bradley)
Leads to moral failures.
We can see wha is there, but cannot see what we ought to do no justification for moving from what is to what ought.
Charles R Pigdon
criticised naturalism: “naturalists, in short, resort to all sorts of supposed facts”
Intuitionism: G.E.Moore
Good cannot be a natural quality. view isn’t very persuasive. we know good- simple perception of a non-natural but simple property. view isn’t subjective, things are not right and good because someone says, they are because its perceived correctly.
intuitionism: Ross book
“the right and the good” 1930.
Intuitionism: Prichard 2 books
“moral obligation” “does moral philosophy rest on mistake”
