Meta Ethics Flashcards
What is meta Ethics?
Meta-ethics is the field in philosophy which attempts to answer the question of what goodness is.
What is normative Ethics?
Normative ethics are ethical theories which attempt to devise a system which enables us to determine which actions are good and which are bad. Natural Law, Situation ethics, Virtue ethics, Utilitarianism and Kantian ethics are all normative theories. They are also meta- ethical theories as they debate what good is and reach a conclusion.
Divine Command Theory
This is the view that God is the origin and regulator of morality.God’s act of commanding something as good or bad is what makes it good or bad. E.g. 10 commandments & Aquinas’ notion of the ‘divine law’ – God’s revelation to humans.
Abraham and Isaac – God commanded Abraham to kill his son Isaac to prove his faith and loyalty. Abraham was about to kill his son when God sent an angel to stop him, saying he had proved his faith and they sacrificed a ram instead. If God commands something, even if it’s killing your child – it is good.
So to the Euthyphro Dilemma, they take the 2nd Horn. Good is what God commands.
What is The Euthyphro dilemma
The Euthyphro dilemma in its modern form asks:does God command good (1st horn), or is it good because God commands it? (2nd horn).
The first horn leads to a conflict with God’s omnipotence
: suppose that when God commands something to be right or wrong, he is really just informing us about what is intrinsically good. This seems to require that goodness is a standard which is independent of God and has some objective status of its own. In that case, God would be just as judged by that standard as we are, and God would not have the power to change it, otherwise what’s good would then ultimately reduce to his command. The idea that God cannot do something or is himself held to a standard higher than himself seems to conflict with his omnipotence.
The second hornis that it is God’s act of commanding something that makes it good. This suggests that God is perfectly good because perfectly good is whatever God commands it to be. This leads to the arbitrariness problem, that God could change his mind about what is good. Meaning real goodness cannot exist. It is simply God’s will.
Swinburne defends taking the second horn.He argues that some moral truths arenecessary.In that case, they must be true, so it would be logically impossible for God to change it.
Highlight the issue of immoral commands as a critique of DCT with a quote against homosexuality
“If a man lies with a man as he does with a woman, both have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death, their blood is upon them”. Leviticus 20:13.
Quote from Dawkins on God of Old Testament
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction”
What is ethical naturalism
This is the view that goodness is something real in the natural world – typically a naturalproperty. The natural world is the physical world. A natural property is a trait or feature that a natural thing has. For example, temperature would be a natural property.
Who are the two main Scholars who support the Divine Command Theory
Augustine and Calvin
What is Humes ‘is- ought’ fallacy
That we cannot take analytic or synthetic statements as premises and conclude a non synthetic or analytic, non cognitive statement - this is a great leap.
Eg just because abortion IS killing a foetus doesn’t mean we OUGHT not to have them
Moore’s naturalistic fallacy and quote on good
He claims any theories that attempt to define good are incorrect, “ good is good and not another thing “ It is intuitive and ineffable.
The open question argument
Moore says all theories that say good is… are wrong.Goodness cannot equal pleasure as pleasure equals pleasure, An informative statement cannot be equal in meaning to an uninformative analytic statement.
Moore’s Intuitionism
Moore holds that when we observe or reflect on a moral situation, such as someone stealing, our intuition gives us the proposition ‘stealing is wrong’, depending on the consequences. This isn’t reducing morality to some subjective feeling however. Just as all humans have no choice but to perceive the color yellow when looking at a yellow thing, Moore thinks humans have no choice but to apprehend the truth or falsity of a moral proposition when observing or reflecting on the relevant moral situation. He thinks this occurs because we apprehend ‘non-natural properties’. Intuitionism is cognitivist as Moore thinks that ethical language expresses a belief about the non-natural reality, which is based on an intuition.
Why might Ayer criticise Moores intuitionism?
It’s superimposed the metaphysical onto the physical and is therefor meaningless non-cognitive language. BUT MOORE is attempting to make goodness analytical in itself, like numbers or colours or other simple concepts.
What are simple and complex concepts?
Simple concepts are that which cannot be broken down into other things Moore uses yellow as an example of one. It is known to every person, Moore says goodness is a simple concept.
AND Complex concepts are able to be broken into other parts eg a horse can be described as fur bones or blood.
What is Ayers Emotivism theory ( Boo- Hurrah)
Statement about what we ought to do or what good is are just “ emotional ejaculations” There is no objective truth or falsity in ethics.
W.D. Ross and ‘ prima facie’ duties.
WD Ross supported intuitionism and believed we could use it to create moral duties that are upheld already, eg, to keep promises and protect loved ones. It strengthens Moors theory by making it more deontological and structured. It would also explain why, realistically, in the trolly problem, most would save a loved one over many others.
Branches of meta-ethics
