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.
