1A : Naturalism

Question 1

What type of theory is naturalism?

Answer 1

Meta-ethical and cognitive.

Question 2

What is meta-ethics?

Answer 2

The study of ethical language. (e.g.what does the word ‘good’ actually mean?)

Question 3

Which philosophers are associated with naturalism?

Answer 3

F.H. Bradley
Aquinas
Mill
Aristotle

Question 4

What are the main points of naturalism? What makes something moral?

Answer 4

Objective law exists independently from human beings.
Moral statements are factual the same as non-moral statements as these can both be verified and falsified with reference to evidence.
Moral statements are objective truths and universal.

Question 5

According to naturalists, what are moral laws?

Answer 5

Ethical descriptions and statements about our world have meaning for everyone then it also follows that they are objective truths and universal.

Question 6

According to naturalists, how is moral knowledge investigated?

Answer 6

Ethical language has cognitive meaning because it directly refers to what we experience and therefore can be verified. Bradley’s essay sees ethical sentences as cognitive (verifiable) and also meaningful because they relate to this world. They can be seen to be good or bad through experience.

Question 7

What was F.H Bradley’s contribution to naturalism?

Answer 7

Interested in the meaning of human existence. Eventually concluded that our existence was related self-realisation.

Question 8

According to Bradley, how do we realise our true self?

Answer 8

Through empirical observation. Observe our family and community and then adopt the values they hold.

Question 9

According to Bradley, what is our duty?

Answer 9

To, once we find our role, perform this function with hard work and obedience.

Question 10

What is the Bradley quote about self-realisation?

Answer 10

“we have found ourselves, when we have found our station and its duties, our function as an organ of the social organism”

Question 11

What is the Bradley quote about duty and being a good person?

Answer 11

“To be a ‘good’ person, we must know our station and its duties, once your position in life is decided, you have to perform the function of that station.”

Question 12

What is a benefit of giving moral statement a scientific basis?

Answer 12

Can prove it to be wrong or right from evidence. Once an ethical statement has been verified as true then it is an objective fact, not subject to opinion.

Question 13

What are the challenges to naturalism?

Answer 13

G. E Moore - Naturalistic fallacy & Open question argument
Hume’s law
Intuitionism
Emotivism

Question 14

Explain G.E Moore’s challenge to naturalism (naturalistic fallacy)

Answer 14

Terms like ‘good’ are indefinable.
Ethical words are similar to colours. For example; yellow is indefinable and is impossible to describe to someone who does not know the colour yellow.
According to Moore ethical terms are not complex and you cannot break them down further to express them empirically.

Question 15

What is the G.E Moore quote about naturalistic fallacy?

Answer 15

“If I am asked ‘what is good?’ my answer is that good is good, and that is the end of the matter or if I am asked ‘how is good to be defined?’ My answer is that it cannot be defined and that is all I have to say about it”

Question 16

Explain G.E Moore’s challenge to naturalism (Open question argument)

Answer 16

Ethical words like ‘good’ are not closed questions that can be defined in a simple, straightforward way. Any attempt to do this with ethical terms would reduce or limit their meaning. Therefore ethical terms cannot be defined and so ethical naturalism is wrong.

Question 17

Explain Hume’s challenge to naturalism (is-ought problem)

Answer 17

Stated you cannot move from facts to making ethical statements. You cannot move from a factual/cognitive statement such as ‘John is dead because he was murdered’ to an ought ethical statement such as ‘you ought not to murder because it is bad’
Hume believes that there are only 2 types of factual statement to exist, synthetic and analytic and moral ‘ought’ statements fit neither and therefore cannot be based on fact.

Question 18

What is an analytic statement?

Answer 18

A statement which is self-evident from the definition.

Question 19

What is a synthetic statement?

Answer 19

A statement concerning factual experience.