Intuitionism Strwngths And Weaknesses

Question 1

Presents morality as objective
STRENGTH

Answer 1

Based on the idea that the ‘good’ is objective - this is an example of moral realism and sets a moral standard. This means that morality is consistent and clear. This is supported by the fact that people do universally agree on certain moral values/issues.

Question 2

Avoids the naturalistic fallacy
STRENGTH

Answer 2

May be seen as better than naturalism because it avoids the fallacy of assuming that just because something is natural it must be good - intuitionism says that morality is not discovered empirically but is known intuitively. ‘Good is good…..and that is all’ !

Question 3

People have different ideas of the good
WEAKNESS

Answer 3

Not everybody has the same idea of ‘goodness’.
People’s intuitions seem to differ. This undermines the idea that an objective ‘good’ is intuitively known.
Mackie argued this suggests our idea of ‘good’ is the result of social conditioning, not intuitionism. How do we resolve conflicts of intuition?

Question 4

Ayer - ‘good’ is a matter of personal preference emotional viewpoint, not intuition
WEAKNESS

Answer 4

Ayer rejects the idea of non-natural moral properties that we intuit as unverifiable and meaningless. He instead argues that morality is a matter of personal preference and opinion - it is the expression of an emotion, not something we know via intuition.

Question 5

Is ought argument
Strength

Answer 5

Proposed by david hume links with naturalistic fallacy