meta-ethics Flashcards
Meta ethics is what?
not how we should behave (normative ethics) but it is about the status of ethical statements and claims.
Discussions about meta- ethics is what?
is about what we mean when we call something good, bad, right or wrong. Meta- ethical debates are debates about language.
Who are absolutists?
they Hold that there are, fixed unchanging truths about right and wrong.
who are relativists?
they hold that morals are flexible and are not absolute. Right and wrong depend on what is right for the individual and society and the particular circumstances.
What is naturalism?
ethical naturalists are absolutists. They believe that right and wrong are fixed features of the universe.
Naturalist believe that there are what?
there are facts about right and wrong. Morals are not about different points of view, tastes and opinions but are about facts of the natural world.
Naturalists believe that morals are not merely what?
Invented by human beings. If everyone in the world thinks that a particular course of action is morally good, they could all be wrong and in fact it could be bad.
Ethical naturalism holds that we can tell what is right and wrong by looking at what?
looking at the world around us and using our reason. - morality is a feature of the universe that we can perceive.
Aquinas was what?
An ethical naturalist- he thought that we could use are reason and our powers of observation to access facts about what is moral and immoral.
Aquinas was a theological naturalist as he thought what?
as he thought that Gods goodness comes from the will of God.
Naturalism states that many normative systems such as utilitarianism, situation ethics or Kantian ethics have elements of what in them?
naturalism in them. For example, they may claim as a fact that happiness is a good thing, or that agape love is an important goal.
Who are examples of modern ethical naturalists?
F.H Bradley and Phillipa Foot.
How did Philippa Foot define naturalism?
By saying that we can observe morality when we see peoples behaviour. We call someone a ‘good person’ or an ‘honest person’ because of our observations. Virtues can be recognised.
What does Philippa foot mean by peoples virtues can be recognised?
Just as we see the natural world whether an animal is an excellent example of its kind or is defective, we can also see excellence or defectiveness in the moral character of people.
What are criticisms of naturalism?
Empiricists( those who believe that the truth can be found through the senses)- criticise naturalism on the ground that right and wrong cannot be experienced with the senses.
What is the example Empiricists use to explain that right and wrong cannot be experienced with the senses?
we can see that hitting someone makes someone unhappy, but we cannot see that making someone unhappy is wrong. Morality is not observable empirically, they would argue.
In treatise of Human nature, Hume argued what?
criticise of naturalism
argued that moral judgements are like judgments about heat or sound or colour or temperature.
He said they come from perceptions and arise the human mind, they are not facts that exist by themselves.
Hume argued that we can see what?
He argued that we can see what there is, but we cannot see, as a result, what we ought to do.
- argued that there is no justification for moving from what is to what ought to be. This is often called ‘Hume’s law’- ‘you cannot derive an “ought” from an “is”.
Intuitionism is usually associated with who ?
usually associated with the philosopher G.E Moore.
Moore wrote about the naturalistic fallacy. He argued that it is an mistake to try to define good in terms of something else. so if we say something is good because it produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number, then we are defining good as something else; maximal happiness.
Moore thought that good cannot be what?
cannot be equated with something else- it is not the same.
For Moore goodness is what?
goodness is a ‘simple notion’. Good is just good, and that is all.
Moore compared good with ‘yellow’ how did he uses this to compare the word good?
yellow cant be defined, or equated with something else, it just is yellow, and we know it when we see it
Moore argues we know good how?
we know good when we see examples of it, by intuition, in the same way that we know beauty when we see it but have trouble defining it.
H.A Prichard argued what?
intuitionism
That it is a mistake to try find reasoned arguments to support what we feel our moral obligations to be. he thought that duty is not the same as the good thing to do, but goes beyond it-
we might know by intuition what is the good thing to do, but the idea we have a moral duty to do that good thing is adding something extra.
Prichard thought that we know what by our intuition?
which of our moral obligations are more important than others.
Who was W.D Ross?
was Prichard’s student and also thought that goodness could not be defined by making reference to other things. He developed intuitionism by introducing the idea of prima facie duties.
What are prima facie duties?
These are duties which seem the obvious course of action to take at first sight, when faced with a moral problem. These are followed unless there is an even more compelling duty which overrides it.
Ross listed seven prima facie duties to which he did not think this list was complete- what were these duties?
- promise keeping
- repairing harm done
- Gratitude
- Justice
- Beneficence
- Self-employment
- Non- maleficence
what is the first possible criticism of intuitionism?
if we know what goodness is just by intuitionism- and it is impossible to define, then is becomes impossible to resolve disagreements about what is right and wrong or good and bad.- people might have different intuitions about what is good.
intuitionism criticism- can be agued that intuition is not what?
Not a faculty in itself but is the same thing as human reason.- intuition might be the way reason works when it needs to take a shortcut. If intuition is just a short- cut reasoning then we might be expected to support our intuitions with some reasoned justification.
Intuitionism criticism- many people challenge what idea?
challenge the idea that we ‘just know’ whether something is right or wrong, by pointing out the fact that people can ‘just know’ moral rules which differ widely.
What is an example of the challenge criticism of intuitionism that we ‘just know’ ?
For example some people ‘just know’ that abortion is always wrong, and others ‘just know’ that in some circumstances it would be wrong to expect a women to carry a pregnancy to full term against her will.
What is Emotivism?
Emotivists hold that ethics arise as the result of our emotional responses.
Emotivism is an ethical non- naturalist position because unlike naturalism, emotivism holds that there are no facts about right and wrong.
According to emotivism, when we say things such as ‘stealing is wrong’ what do we mean?
we mean that stealing evokes in us emotions of disapproval.
Emotivism- when we say ‘ helping others is good’ what do we mean?
we mean that helping others gives us good feelings.
Emotivism is sometimes known as what?
as the ‘hurrah/boo’ theory because our statements about what is good, bad right and wrong are seen as expressions of our feelings, not as reference to any actual facts.
A.J Ayer was a leading emotivist. He held that statements such as ‘stealing is wrong’ cannot be about what?
cannot be about meaningful facts because they cannot be tested using the five senses.
in Ayer’s view a statement can only be tested if what?
A statement is only meaningful if It can be empirically tested, and ethical statements cannot be. Therefore ethical statements must be something other than facts. Ayer thought that ethical statements were about emotion.
who was C.L Stevenson and what did he develop?
He developed Ayer’s thinking, saying that moral language has an emotive element and also a ‘prescriptive’ element.- when I say stealing is wrong’, I mean ‘ I dislike stealing and I encourage you to dislike it too’.
Who Criticises emotivism?
MacIntyre
MacIntyre criticises emotivism for a number of reasons, what is the first reason?
Emotivists confuse meaning with use- for MacIntyre, what is important about moral language is the significance it has for those who use it.
what is MacIntyres second Criticism of emotivism?
Stevenson presents the idea of an unpleasant world where people are trying to force their beliefs on each other- MacIntyre does not think moral language and behaviour work like this.
What is MacIntryes third criticism?
Third Criticism is that emotivism is no help to us in making a distinction between morality and feelings about other things, such as our tastes in music or food.
What is Humes law?
you cannot go from an ‘is’ ( a statement of fact) to an ‘ought’ (an moral).
