1F: Meta-ethics: Intuitionism Flashcards
What is intuitionism?
- a cognitivie approach
- argues ethical statements express propositions
- objective moral laws exist independently of human beings
Objective moral laws exist independently of human beings
- There are fundamental truths that cannot be broken down into parts and cannot be defined by definitions of anything else other than those moral truths
- Moral principles are capable of being true and known through a special faculty called ‘moral intuition’
Moral truths can be discovered by using our minds in an intuitive way
- Moral intuition isn’t the same as knowledge gained through reasoning
- Isn’t the same as a feeling/hunch that brings about a sense of certainty
- Intuition clear and immediate intellectual awareness: needs no proof or demonstration
Intuitive ability is innate and the same for all moral agents
- “we all have and agree on this capacity”
- intuitive ability is not trained/taught into us subjectively
- Moore used analogy of the colour yellow: simple and objective, cannot be explained by other properties - we must all know it
- We must know good: not by definition/reasoning/deduction but through an innate ability to know the simple thing
Intuition needs a mature mind so not infallible
- WD Ross: we really need a mature mind to ensure we intuit that something is true and it might be that we don’t immediately recognise it as an intuition if we aren’t mature enough
- Requires familiarity with our intuitions and it might take time to contemplate if we aren’t well practised
- We can be wrong but this doesn’t stop it still being something truth-apt
Allows for objective moral values
- We arrive at intuitions before the use of any reason
- Intuitions are arrived at regardless of rational physical evidence: they are propositions
- For a mature mind, a moral truth is self evident
- Understanding wrongly doesn’t mean there isn’t some kind of objective value that exists independently of us
HA Pritchard
- ‘Ought to do’ has no definition
- We recognise what we ‘ought to do’ by intuition
- Two ways of thinking: general and moral
- No link between ‘ought’ and ‘good’: goodness is not an imperative
- We cannot move from non-normative premises to a normative conclusion
- Moral obligation presents itself directly to our intuitions
- Feelings of obligation are basic and immediate
- We cannot prove an obligation and can only intuit obligation
- Says general thinking is reasoning whereas moral thinking is intuition
Why is intuitionism a fallible approach?
Because we require mature minds to reason these moral laws
What 3 claims does intuitionism make?
- ‘Good’ is indefinable
- There are objective moral truths: don’t depend on human thinking/feeling
- The basic moral truths are self evident to a mature mind; known truths require no further proof/justification
What did Moore believe about proving moral judgements?
They cannot ever be proven empirically and so they are incapable of being proved: to define an ethical judgement as factual is an error
What does ‘prima facie’ mean?
- ‘first face’: on the face of it they are self evidently true
- foundational moral principles that moral laws develop from
- coined by WD Ross
What are the foundational moral principles (prima facie)?
- Beneficence
- Faithfulness
- Gratitude
- Justice
- Non-maleficence
- Promise keeping
- Self improvement
Who is Pritchard and what is the name of his work?
An English philosopher and ethical intuitionist
- ‘Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?’
What did Pritchard state about moral obligation?
To justify it by reducing it to an interest/something else is a mistake: moral obligations present themselves directly to our intuitions
What did Pritchard believe about the notion of ‘good’?
- It is simple and undefinable concept
- We understand when to act through reason and intuition
How did Pritchard believe moral norms were determined?
- Without any reference to any actual events
- It is a matter of belief which is then rationally analysed
- The starting point of morality is the self evident nature of moral truths
What are Pritchard’s two types of thinking?
Reason (general) and intuition (moral)
What is general thinking?
Using empirical evidence to present a logical argument
What is moral thinking?
Applying intuition in order to know our moral duty
What is an ethical dilemma?
A situation where you must make a choice between different actions, where there are conflicting obligations
What did Pritchard believe about obligations in ethical dilemmas?
- Intuition will identify the greater obligation and this should not be doubted
- BUT he thought people’s morals differ because some have clearer intuition that others; they developed their moral thinking further. We don’t all reach the same degree of moral enlightenment
