Meta-Ethical Theories

Question 1

Absolutism

Answer 1

the view that morals are fixed, unchanging truths that everyone should always follow

Question 2

Relativism

Answer 2

the view that moral truths are not fixed and are not absolute. What is right changes according to the individual, the situation, the culture, the time and the place

Question 3

Naturalism

Answer 3

ethical theories that hold that morals are part of the natural world and can be recognised or observed in some way

Question 4

Intuitionism

Answer 4

ethical theories that hold that moral knowledge is received in a different way from science and logic

Question 5

Vienna Circle

Answer 5

a group of philosophers known as logical positivists who rejected claims that moral truth can be verified as objectively true

Question 6

Emotivism

Answer 6

ethical theories that hold that moral statements are not statements of fact but are either beliefs or emotions

Question 7

Hume’s Law

Answer 7

you cannot go from an ‘is’ (a statement of fact) to an ‘ought’ (a moral)

Question 8

Naturalistic Fallacy

Answer 8

G.E. Moore’s argument that it is a mistake to define moral terms with reference to other properties (a mistake to break Hume’s Law)