Meta-ethical theories

Question 1

Define ‘moral absolutes’

Answer 1

Supported by an authority or evident truth, implicit in some religious morality

Question 2

Define ‘moral relativity’

Answer 2

Morality is dependent on the circumstance so there is no one moral authority

Question 3

What is the study of meta-ethics?

Answer 3

Philsophy that examines what we can say about ethics, an open enquiry that explores the language and meaning of ethical debate

Question 4

What is naturalism?

Answer 4

There are moral facts which can be determined by our senses

Question 5

What is intuitionism?

Answer 5

There are moral facts we can know through our inner senses

Question 6

What is emotivism?

Answer 6

There are no moral facts

Question 7

What are the two types of meta-ethical theories?

Answer 7

Cognitive and non-cognitive

Question 8

What are cognitive (objective) theories?

Answer 8

Ethical naturalism and intuitionism

Question 9

What are non-cognitive (subjective) theories?

Answer 9

Emotivism

Question 10

Name two ethical naturalists

Answer 10

F.H.Bradley and Phillipa Foot

Question 11

Describe F.H.Bradley’s ideas (3)

Duty, where morals come from, verification of statements

Answer 11

• Duty is universal and absolute
• Our morals are known by our place in society and purpose in life
• Statements are only factual if they can be verified empirically

Question 12

Describe Phillipa Foot’s ideas

Answer 12

• A moral person is someone who keeps promises and defends human rights
• Moral evil is a ‘natural defect’
• Virtues observed by watching other’s actions
• Norms of each species behaviour come from how they maintain their lives e.g. swiftness of deer so members can be judged on their efficiency
• E.g. an owl with poor night vision = defective but if someone’s intentions are good then they’re still considered moral

Question 13

Morality in intuitionism exists (1) experience and is self evident in (2)

Answer 13

1 - independently of

2 - nature

Question 14

Name three scholars of intuitionism

Answer 14

G.E.Moore, H.A.Pritchard and W.D.Ross

Question 15

Give a quote from G.E.Moore

Answer 15

“If I am asked ‘what is good?’ My answer is that ‘good is good and that is the end of the matter”

Question 16

Describe G.E.Moore’s ideas

How do we know what good is? How do we perceive goodness? Reason/logic? Hume

Answer 16

• Intuitive sense to perceive moral goodness
• We know what good is when we experience it just as we recognise the colour yellow to be irreducible
• We cannot use reason to determine what is good
• If we reduce goodness to something else we commit naturalistic fallacy

Question 17

What is naturalistic fallacy?

Answer 17

It is a mistake to define moral terms with reference to other properties which breaks Hume’s law

Question 18

What does Moore believe in regards to the physical world’s relationship with moral judgement and how intuition cannot be measured?

Answer 18

• It is a mistake to look to the physical world to define good as this will turn moral judgement into physical judgement
• Intuition cannot be measured empirically

Question 19

Describe H.A.Pritchard’s ideas
(arguments to define moral obligation, good action and duty, reason and intuition, ethical dilemmas, differing morals, doubt)

Answer 19

• It is impossible to find arguments that define moral obligation
• There is a gap between good action and the concept of duty as duty is beyond good action
• Reason collects fact and intuition determines what course to follow
• Ethical dilemmas come from choices between actions when faced with conflicting moral obligations
• Morals differ because of individual moral clarity
• Doubt comes from the hesitation of moral thinking capacity to determine what is right

Question 20

Give a quote from W.D.Ross

Answer 20

Morals, like maths, are self-evident”

Question 21

Name two books by W.D.Ross

Answer 21

The Right and The Good (1930) and Foundations of Ethics (1939)

Question 22

Describe W.D.Ross’ ideas

principles and cultures, morality and moral duty, moral theories

Answer 22

• Principles and cultures can conflict e.g. lying to keep a promise/ Islam 1 man may have 4 wives so morality cannot be absolute
• Morality is objective but moral duty is conditional
• Moral theories are lists of principles from which we can decide a course of action

Question 23

What are Prima Facie Duties? (W.D.Ross)

Answer 23

The apparent duties ‘at first appearance’ when faced with a moral problem:
promise keeping, reparation, gratitude, justice, beneficence, self-improvement and non-malevolence

Question 24

What is G.E.Moore’s key book?

Answer 24

Principa Ethica

Question 25

Why would G.E.Moore disagree with utilitarianism?

Answer 25

The Hedonic Calculus tries to objectify what good is and it can’t because good cannot be defined or pinpointed

Question 26

What is the difference and similarities of thinking between Hume and Moore?

Answer 26

• Morality cannot be derived from reason

- Hume: morality is derived from sentiment and the feelings of approval to an action

Question 27

How does the ideas of Kant and W.D.Ross compare?

Answer 27

Prima Facie Duites are an extension on Kan’ts works as Kant believed you need lots of duties to make a moral decision but these would over lap and require sub-clauses

Question 28

What is Hume’s law?

Answer 28

You cannot go from an ‘is’ (statement of fact) to an ‘ought’ (statement prescribing what should be done) as philosophers do when talking of morality e.g. you ought not to lie

Question 29

Emotivism: morality is (1) and subjective as they are expressions of (2)

Answer 29

• non-cognitive

- opinion

Question 30

Who were the Vienna Circle? What was their key idea regarding verification?

Answer 30

A group of philosophers in the 1920s who developed the idea of logical positivism and accepted Hume’s guillotine, they rejected the existence of things or statements that cannot be known through verifiable science

Question 31

Describe the ideas of A.J.Ayer

Answer 31

• There are three kinds of judgement; analytical (logic), synthetic (fact) and moral
• Morals inform of a person’s opinion and emotion not world knowledge
• A statement is meaningful if it can be proven true or false by facts through our sense or analytical which is truth by definition
• Hurrah/Boo theory

Question 32

Give a quote by A.J.Ayer

Answer 32

“For in saying that a certain type of action is right or wrong… I am merely expressing certain moral sentiments”

Question 33

Describe the ideas of C.L.Stevenson

Answer 33

• Moral opinion is an expression of attitude and not an emotional response
• Morals express and (dis)approval
• There is a persuasion element to moral statements
• Moral arguments are just difference in opinion

Question 34

What is Alasdair MacIntyre’s view of morality?

Answer 34

Morals are a guide to our actions not because they are factual but because of their significance to the holder

Question 35

How are the views of C.L.stevenson challenged?

Answer 35

Portrays the world as a competition where people try to get ahead of everyone else

Question 36

Give one criticism of emotivism

Answer 36

Does not distinguish attitudes that are moral and how they influence our actions

Question 37

Give one criticism of intuitionism

Answer 37

There’s no way of knowing that our intuition is correct as it is non-verifiable also where does our intuition come from to allow us to know this is acceptable behaviour?

Question 38

Give one criticism of naturalism

Answer 38

If good cannot be universalised then to claim a moral statement as good is to commit naturalistic fallacy and there can never be a description of how the world ought to be