Meta Ethics Flashcards
What is the motivation of meta ethics?
What do we mean by right and wrong and how can moral statements be justified?
What does it mean if ethical values are cognitive?
Ethical statements are about facts and can be proved true or false
What are the two schools of cognitive ethics?
Ethical naturalism
Ethical non naturalism
What does it mean if ethical values are non cognitive?
Non factual
E.g. I think rape is wrong
What is Hume’s fork?
Relations of ideas (necessary, analytic, a priori propositions)
Matters of fact (contingent, synthetic, a posteriori propositions)
Do ethical statements fit into Humes fork?
No because they’re not observable
What is a tautology?
the saying of the same thing twice over in different words
How would bentham’s utilitarianism define good?
Hedonic calculus- reduce pain first then look at pleasure
What would NML say about goodness?
Satisfaction and fulfilment come by following ones true essence
What would SE say about goodness?
Those who comply with and display agape are morally good
What does an ethical naturalist say about ethical facts?
It’s vitally important to hold that there are ethical facts about the world because otherwise we have no real justification for our actions
What would VE say about goodness?
If an act contributes to the development of ones virtues it is moral
What is ethical naturalism?
Moral values can be described in terms of natural properties; they can be discovered and understood
Where does Moore criticise ethical naturalism?
Principia ethica
What is Moore’s naturalistic fallacy?
Good shouldn’t be defined in terms of some natural property like pleasure
Goodness is simple and undefinable like yellow; can be recognised not defined
Why is good not a natural property for Moore?
It can’t be experienced empirically unlike pain and joy
What are the two ethical non naturalist theories?
Divine command theory and intuitionism
Why is divine command theory non naturalist?
Because it holds that the source of morality isnt in nature at all but in a supernatural being- its theonomous
What does supernatural mean?
Above the natural
What does DCT argue?
Whatever god commands must be good and whatever he forbids must be evil
Humans made in gods image so there’s a link between creator and creation
Strength of DCT: reward for following god
Gods moral commands linked with the promise of life after death
Strength of DCT: it is clear
Gods commands must be right as he is the god of classical theism
Strength of DCT: universal
The rules are right for all times and places
Strength of DCT: god as a fair judge
God doesn’t have human weakness so is totally aware of people’s good and bad deeds
Weakness of DCT: bible contains immoral commands
Homosexuality: ‘they shall be put to death’
Weakness of DCT: no autonomy
Doesn’t offer free choice to be morally good
Morality should be based on reason not religious belief
Pascal’s wager: belief in god is a ‘good bet’
Weakness of DCT: euthyphro dilemma
God commands the slaughter of innocent children so are His commands right because they’re in scripture?
If there’s a moral law external to god, he loses omnipotence
Socrates quote
‘Is behaviour right because the gods command it, or do the gods command it because it is right’- Socrates
How is intuitionism a replacement for ethical naturalism?
Morality is intuited; can’t be proved empirically
What is a simple vs complex idea?
Simple- can’t be described. E.g. yellow
Complex- can be described. E.g. horse
Why is good a simple idea?
What is intrinsically good can’t be defined
What is Moore’s open question argument?
Ethical questions are open; don’t have a definitive answer
Closed questions are logical
Strength of intuitionism: gets around the problem caused by ethical naturalism
Avoids the problems of identifying ethics with a natural property
We interpret morality through a sense rather than a list of moral definitions
Strength of intuitionism: universal ability of intuition
Common consensus on moral issues
Weakness of intuitionism: how does it work?
Is it a gut feeling? Gods direction? How can we be sure our intuitions are correct?
Weakness of intuitionism: unconscious influence of society governs intuitions
Intuitionism could be the influence society has on us
Weakness of intuitionism: it may lead to non cognitivism
Ethical statements are personal views; too subjective
How is ethical non cognitivism different from naturalism and non naturalism?
Ethical values are opinions not facts that can be investigated
How does Ayer criticise ethical statements?
Statements that can’t be be verified or falsified are meaningless
In what way are Hume and Ayer suggesting similar ideas about what we know?
We can’t know the truth about ethical statements as they can’t be verified synthetically or analytically
What is Ayers emotivism?
Morality is about subjective emotions. Moral statements are of approval or disapproval. They’re meaningless if they don’t fit into Humes fork. Rules and guidelines are a matter of convention
What is Hare’s prescriptivism?
We try to prescribe to others our moral opinion
What is hume’s is ought gap?
One can’t move from a factual statement about the world to a moral value
Ought statements don’t fit into the fork
The complete separation of is and ought is Humes guillotine
Quote from Moore
‘Good is good … it cannot be defined’
Dawkins quote
‘The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction’
What does Dawkins think about faith?
It is one of the world’s greatest evils as it is belief without evidence
What is alistair McGrath’s idea on transcendentalising?
It is human nature to transcendentalise values
What is calvins stance on DCT?
‘The will of god is the supreme rule of righteousness’
To challenge gods will is an impossibility
Quote from Ayer
Moral statements are ‘emotional ejaculations’
Quote from Bentham
‘Nature has placed mankind under the governance of 2 sovereign masters, pain and pleasure’
What is benthams act utilitarianism?
Pain and pleasure directs us
Pleasure is the one intrinsic good and pain the one intrinsic evil
We seek to maximise pleasure and minimise pain. We can calculate happiness with hedonic calculus
Pleasure can come from push penny or opera
What is Mill’s rule utilitarianism?
Higher intellectual pleasures and lower physical ones
Better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied
Happiness is superior to pleasure (H involves longevity and P instant gratification)
Roger crisp
All pleasures aren’t equal
Eternal oyster or mortal Haydn
