META ETHICS Flashcards
what is meta ethics concerned with
NOT concerned with guidance on how to live a good life, it stands back from moral decision making and asks broader philosophical questions about the nature of morality - it is hard to be precise in defining meaning of ethical terms!!!
what are the two key issues
truth and language
divisions of truth
realism and anti realism
what is realism
moral principles exist a prior, there is a standard of goodness to be reached
what is anti-realism
morality is subjective, it is a human construct, there are no fixed standards
divisions of language
cognitivism and non-cognitivism
what is cognitivism
ethical statements express beliefs which can be true/false
what is non-cognitivism
ethical statements do not express beliefs, cannot be true/false
what is hume’s problem called
is/ought fact/value
explain hume’s is/ought problem
in moral discourse, authors speak about certain facts and then make an illegitimate leap telling us how to behave when there is no justification for this - so what basis do we have for making moral judgements?
what does naturalism form a response to
hume is/ought problem
what is naturalism
realist/cognitivist - there is something factual about goodness like gravity/climate. moral statements are truths of the universe, not opinions.
why is there discourse in naturalism
there are different understandings of what a natural property/fact is
who are the 5 naturalist philosophers
bentham
aquinas
bradley
foot
plato
what is benthams form of naturalism called
reductive naturalism
describe reductive naturalism/bentham approach
goodness is reduced to pleasure! (hedonism). pleasure is a natural property of the world illustrated by ‘two soveirgn’ masters, maximising pleasure is natural property of humanity, the good is measurable (hedonic calculus)
describe aquinas approach
links into natural law, goodness apart of God’s eternal and divine laws, exists objectively an absolutely waiting to be discovered, can be discovered through ratio, natural law and synderesis
explain f.h. bradley approach
goodness is a natural property of the world, ‘concrete absolute reality’, we are all part of different stations in the world and we are obliged to recognise the needs of others if we are to realise our ideal self
explain foot approach
people exhibit virtues that aim at some greater good (virtue ethics & aristotle), it is possible to perceive moral absolutes through those people who act in consideration of virtues
explain plato approach
form of the good!!!!!!! this is discoverable beyond the world of appearances, cave analogy, breaking through the chains, a priori reasoning to achieve enlightenment, there is an ideal standard of what is good that the forms are held up to and everything else participates in
what is non-naturalism
morality remains an objective reality but it is not a natural fact of the universe, ‘good’ cannot be reduced to natural properties that can be empirically observed
what philosopher argues for non-naturalism
g.e. moore
who does moore react to in particular
bentham and utilitarianism
explain g.e. moore position
argued good ‘just is’, sui generis - the naturalistic fallacy: naturalism is a misunderstanding of what good is for two reasons
1. it cannot be defined (like the colour yellow)
2. it cannot be empirically observed
