Assess whether or not ethical terms such as good, bad, right and wrong, reflect only what is in the mind of the people using such terms. (INTUITIONISM)

Question 1

intuitionism

Answer 1

goodness not natural property
since not natural, must be non-natural
-natural world is physical world of atoms and gravity
-Moore proposes more to reality than just natural things- also non-natural aspect and goodness is non-natural
-used no. as analogy for goodness
-numbers not physical things , but have some relationship to reality
goodness cannot be shown to be identical to anything so cannot be defined
-Moore thinks have ability called ‘intuition’ where access non-natural reality where goodness os and gives us knowledge of right/wrong
-ethical language expresses beliefs which can be true or false- this belief gained through intuition.

Question 2

critique of intuitionism

Answer 2

-diff to understand and explain what Moore means by non-natural reality (Moore later admitted himself didnt explain it properly)
-if Moore correct we would expect to find more moral agreement than we do. if ability to now objective moral truth then why so much moral disagreement?
-people gave moral intuitions bc of way they’re raised not bc of mysterious non-natural reality
-diff societies have diff views on what’s right and wrong- so it looks more credible that social conditioning causes moral intuitions

Question 3

response to critiques of intuitionism

Answer 3

-core set of moral views all cultures have in common- lie not stealing/killing
-suggest there’s some objective basis for ethics which is not purely cultural

Question 4

CA to core set of values across cultures

Answer 4

-simpler and more scientific explanations
-society cannot exist w/o rules against stealing/killing, so ones in which exist will have such rules
-don’t need to imagine there are actual moral properties to explain that