Emotivism - its expressions

Question 1

What does Ayer consider ethical judgements (words such as wrong or right) as?

Answer 1

• symbols
• the word wrong or right within a sentence is a symbol that represents the feeling or sensation I get when I think about a particular issue.

Question 2

What do ethical statements express and what do they relate to?

Answer 2

Express joy or pain and so relate to internal statements rather than to anything objective in the empirical world.

Question 3

If I make the statement ‘homosexuality is wrong’, what am I also seeking to do?

Answer 3

I also seek to persuade you to feel the same way as me. The reaction from others is evidence of how strongly the sensations are felt.

Question 4

The way in which emotivism differs to subjectivism

Answer 4

• emotivism suggests that ethical statements are emotional utterances rather than propositions about a persons emotional state (which subjectivism suggests)