Ethics Vocabulary Flashcards
Cognitivism
Cognitivism in ethics is the view that moral judgements are propositions which can be known—they refer to the world and they have a truth value (true or false).
Non-cognitivism
Non-cognitivism is the view that moral judgements cannot be known, because they do not say anything true or false about the world.
Intuitionism
A realist theory which claims that we can determine what is right or good according to our moral intuitions. For intuitionists, the terms ‘right’ and ‘good’ do refer to something objective, but they cannot be reduced to naturalistic terms.
Hedonism
The claim that pleasure is the good. Many utilitarians are hedonists, in that they believe we ought to try to maximise pleasure.
Emotivism
A non-cognitivist theory of the meaning of moral terms and judgements. In its basic form, emotivism claims that moral judgements do not refer to anything in the world, but are expressions of feelings of approval or disapproval.
Empiricism
Our Beliefs and knowledge must be based on experience
Is/ought gap: Hume argued that we cannot draw a conclusion which is evaluative(ought) from premises which are purely factual or descriptive.
Meta-ethics
Sometimes called ‘second order ethics’, this is the study by moral philosophers of the meaning of moral judgements. This covers issues such as realism, cognitivism, is/ought gap, the naturalistic fallacy etc.
Naturalism
The view that we can explain moral concepts, such as good, in naturalistic terms, such as pleasure or happiness.
Naturalistic fallacy
G.E Moore attacked Naturalism because he claimed that it committed a fallacy namely of trying to define the indefinable. Moore believed that moral terms such as good could not be defined, and that naturalists tried to define them in naturalistic terms.
Realism
Moral realists believe that in some sense moral terms refer to something real, for example pleasure, or happiness, or utility, or the moral law or God’s command. So, from a realist position, morality is discovered.
Anti-Realism
Moral anti-realists believe that moral terms do not refer to anything real, but are something else entirely—for example expressions of feeling etc.
Utilitarianism
A consequentialist moral theory, perhaps inspired by Hume and developed by Mill and Bentham. It is a hedonistic theory claiming that what is good is as much pleasure or happiness as possible for the majority of people.
Utility Principle
The principle that an act or object is good in as much as it brings about something that is desired.
Verification Principle
The rule put forward by verificationists that a proposition is only meaningful if it can be shown to be true or false by experience or by analysis of the meanings of the terms involved. (Able to be proven true/ false or tautology)
