Intuitionism Flashcards
Intuitionism definition
Moral truths are indefinable and self-evident. The ‘good’ cannot be defined, it is intuitively known.
Moral realism definition
The belief that right and wrong objectively exist independently from the mind - they are real properties. They are known via observation (naturalism) or intuitively (intuitionism).
Cognitivism definition
The belief that moral statements are subject to being either true or false - they are meaningful
What do intuitionists believe?
Intuitionism believes that moral truths can’t be discovered by observation of the world.
• ‘Right’ and ‘wrong’ can’t be discovered - instead, they are self-evident.
• We know ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ by intuition.
• Like naturalism, it is a moral realist theory and a cognitivist theory - there are moral truths (that are self evident)
What does GE Moore believe
• G.E. Moore argued for intuitionism.
• We don’t recognise goodness through empirical facts: the ‘good’ is self-evident to our intuition.
• Good is a ‘simple concept’ that we ‘just know’ intuitionally - it is self-evident to us all.
GE Moores example
• He used the example of the colour yellow: if we were asked to describe yellow we would find it difficult. We only answer the question of ‘what is yellow?’ by pointing out an object that is vellow.
• We are similarly able to recognise goodness.
• It cannot be defined but it can only be shown and known
Moores differences between simple and complex ideas
• Moore explains the difference between simple and complex ideas:
• Complex ideas - e.g. a horse - are ideas that can be broken down into parts: leg, neck etc.
• Simple ideas - e.g. yellow - cannot be broken down into parts or divided.
• Moore states that goodness is a simple idea and simple ideas are grasped by intuition.
GE Moore quite
‘If I am asked, ‘What is good?’, my answer is that good is good, and that is the end of the matter.”
