Meta Ethics Flashcards
How does meta-ethics differ from normative ethics?
It asks questions about how we use ethics itself rather than making ethical claims.
What is naturalism?
The belief that values can be defined through observation of the world around us it can be proved empirically
What is intuitionism?
The belief that basic moral truths are indefinable but self-evident
Which scholars follow intuitionism?
G.E Moore
What is Moore’s quote for intuitionism?
it is a simple perception of a non-natural, simple property, like yellow
What is emotivism?
The belief that ethical terms only evince approval or disapproval they are based on feelings - there are no moral facts
Which scholars follow ethical emotivism?
Ayer
What is Ayer’s quote about emotivism?
ethical statements are mere ejaculations of emotions
What else can Ayer’s emotivism theory be called?
The ‘yah-boo’ theory
What is prescriptivism?
The theory that ethical statements are both prescriptive and universal in their nature. They do not state facts and are not true or false
Who argues for prescriptivism?
Hare
What is an example of prescriptivism? (Use quotes)
The idea that statements like “suicide is wrong” is actually trying to say “do not commit suicide” and trying to prescribe this view to others
What is moral realism?
The belief that right and wrong actually exist; the are real properties
What is cognivitism?
The belief that moral statements are subject to being either true or false
What is the divine command theory?
The view that morality is somehow dependant upon God and that moral obligation consists in obedience to God’s commands.
What are some examples that align with divine command theory?
God gave Moses the 10 commandments
What is Kant’s quote about the divine command theory?
we must believe that God exists because the requirements of morality are too much for us to bear
What is the euthryphro dilemma?
The debate whether things are good because God thinks so
or God thinks they are good because they are:
Does God love it because it is good, or is it good because God loves it
Which scholars follow ethical naturalism?
Aquinas
Bentham
What does Aquinas think about ethical naturalism?
That the world has a god-given order built into it. Moral values can be worked out by understanding our God-given purpose and observing the natural order.
What does F.H.Bradley argue about ethical naturalism?
He argued it is possible to understand our moral duties by observing our position or station in life - this is a bit outdated with Victorian class divisions
but cold be applied to roles such as teacher
What is F.H.Bradley’s quote?
What he has to do depends on what his place is, what his function is, and that all comes from his station in the organism.
What do Bentham and Mill argue about ethical naturalism?
From a utilitarian viewpoint
they argue we can discover right and wrong by discovering which actions lead to pleasure or pain e.g. we can see that stabbing someone creates pain
Do naturalism and absolutism overlap?
Yes
naturalists are mostly absolutist (e.g. Aquinas) but a more relativist side could be used too (e.g. util)
Who objects naturalism?
David Hume
What does David Hume argue against naturalism?
The “is/ought” problem (or the “fact-value distinction”) - when we make moral claims we tend to use phrases like “you ought to”
showing how no matter how closely we examine a situation
What is a weakness of natural law linking to meta ethics?
Aquinas’ natural law relies on a naturalist viewpoint
assuming telos is built into the universe etc
What does non-cognitivist mean?
The belief that moral statements are not subject to truth or falsity
What is logical positivism?
An idea developed by members of the Vienna Circle which considered philosophical analysis to be the way to determine whether an idea is meaningful
What did logical positivists say about the verification principle?
They suggest that statements are only meaningful is they are analytical statements (true by definition e.g. water boils at 100 degrees) or are synthetic statements (verified by the senses)
What does verification mean for meta ethics?
When observing the facts of a situation
there is no way to see the rightness or wrongness
Hume’s quote about verification principle
The vice entirely escapes you, as long as you consider the object
Was hume an emotivist?
Yes
What did A.J.Ayer say about emotivism?
He argued that statements are only meaningful if we are able to say how we could verify them e.g. “the grass is green” - moral statements aren’t logical and cant be proven
so they are factually meaningless
What does A.J.Ayer think moral statements actually are?
They are just statements that show emotional states or feelings about issues. The words “right” and “wrong” dont add anything
they merely convey approval or disapproval
A.J.Ayer’s quote about ethical statements
The presence of an ethical symbol in a proposition adds nothing to its factual content. Thus if I say to someone “you acted wrongly in stealing that money”, i am not saying anything more than if i had simply said “you stole that money”.
What does “evince” mean? (A.J.Ayer’s word)
It explains how ethical statements show an emotional state. It doesn’t mean the same thing as expressing
as he notes how we may or may not actually feel the emotion that our words indicate.
What is moral anti-realism?
The belief that right and wrong do not actually exist; ethics do not actually exist; ethics is a matter of opinion
Is intuitionism a moral realist theory?
Yes
they believe that right and wrong actually exist
What did G.E.Moore say about intuitionism?
He argued for it
suggesting that “good” or “bad” is self-evident in our intuition.
What example did Moore use?
The colour yellow - we cant explain it or describe it
but can point to things that are yellow. In a similar way
What is the naturalistic fallacy?
Moore’s criticism of naturalism - he argued that the fact we can ask if things like pleasure are “good” and answer “no” shows that things like these aren’t the same as good.
What did Moore make a distinction between?
Simple and complex things:
Complex things are things such as horse
it can be broken down into parts
Simple things cant be broken down such as yellow or goodness.
What does JJ Mackie criticise about intuitionism?
The ‘argument from queerness’ - he argues that if there were objective morals in the world
they would be more obvious and jump out at us
What is JJ Mackie’s quote criticising intuitionism?
if there were objective values, they would be entities or qualities or relations of a very strange sort, utterly different from anything else in the universe
What is error theory?
The view that there are no moral features in this world; nothing is right or wrong. Therefore no moral judgements are true - our sincere moral judgements try
but always fail to describe the moral features of things
What is the idea observer theory?
The idea that ethical statements should align with a rational
healthy
