Meta-ethics Flashcards
What is definism
Ethical naturalism
Cognitive
You can define whether something is good or bad
Bentham, Kant, anyone that defines good
What is meta ethics
The study of moral language
Definism - ethical naturalism
Intuitivism - ethical non- naturalism
Emotivism
Prescriptivism
Criticisms of definism
Hume and Moore - can’t get an ought from from an is
Moore - ‘good is good and that is the end of the matter’
John Searle - can get an ought from an is
What is intuitionism
Ethical non naturalists
GE Moore - non naturalistic utilitarian
You just know what good is because of your intuition, but can’t define it like yellow
Good is an open concept - we can recognise it
Criticisms of intuitionism
It is subjective - can’t verify what our intuition tells us
People have different views - one person may think something is good while the other may not
What is emotivism
Non cognitivism
AJ Ayer - logical positivists
Statements are meaningless unless they can be verified
Expression of feelings or emotions about a moral issue
Boo/horray theory - simply stating preferences I do like or don’t like
What is prescriptivism
Non cognitive
RM Hare
Developed emotivism - when making a moral judgement someone is prescribing a course of action
Eg ‘murder is wrong’ not an expression of feeling but a rule for others ‘do not kill’
Criticisms of emotivism
RM Hare
Emotivism too simple
We are too complex to reduce our language about good and bad to boo horray
What is cognitive and non cognitive
Cognitive - expresses fact and knowledge
Non cognitive - expresses things which we can’t verify eg feeling and values
