Meta Ethics - Ethical Naturalism

Question 1

What do Ethical Naturalists believe about the truth of ethical statements?

Answer 1

Ethical statements can be proven to be true or false by examining evidence, as science does.

Question 2

Give an example which supports Ethical Naturalism.

Answer 2

Hitler was an evil man could be proven true or false by examining the evidence that we have about Hitler’s actions and the consequences of those actions

Question 3

What do the naturalists believe about defining ethical statements?

Answer 3

You can define ethical statements using non moral terms and they are cognitivists. They believe that language can be defined using empirical evidence

Question 4

For Ethical Naturalists, how is ethical language like Maths and science?

Answer 4

It can be verified and is factually based.

Question 5

Give some examples of naturalistic philosophers and how they define Good.

Answer 5

Aquinas - good is what fulfils these purposes - observed through the common human nature.
Kant - doing you duty - observed from the rational capacity of humans
Bentham - something is good if it leads to more pleasure than pain - “happiness is a fact” (Mill)

Question 6

What type of morality does ethical naturalism lead to?

Answer 6

It defines the word good evil etc, which means there can be objective morality to some extent.

Question 7

What does Ethical Naturalism allow us to do?

Answer 7

It means we can make judgements about what is right and good and what is wrong or evil.

Question 8

What role do consequences play in ethical naturalism?

Answer 8

Consequences can indicate to the Naturalist what is good/evil etc. So there is evidence to base the ideas on.

Question 9

What are the benefits of treating ethics like maths or science?

Answer 9

Makes it factual, which means it is more logical in its approach to ethics.

Question 10

What suggests that it is impossible to know what good/evil mean?

Answer 10

There is little agreement between philosophers on the definition of good.

Question 11

What is the issue with treating ethics like maths or science?

Answer 11

Ethics and morality can be grounded in other elements - such as emotion/ intuition

Question 12

What are the implications of it being difficult to define what is meant by the term Good?

Answer 12

We can often perceive Good differently and this leads to relativism e.g. so I can say that Mother Theresa is good and you can say that Mother Theresa is evil and we would both be right. Therefore, we cannot make a moral judgement, nobody can be right or wrong.

Question 13

What supports relativism in ethical language?

Answer 13

Protagoras - personal relativism - “man is the measure of all things”

Question 14

Who influenced Phillipa Foot and how?

Answer 14

She draws on Aristotle’s ideas of observing the natural world and claims that from this there is a good way of doing things. Life shows excellence and defect and she links this to purpose and telos of living things.

Question 15

Give an example to support Foot.

Answer 15

A tree that has sturdy roots is an excellent tree and not defective. It is able then to fulfil its function and purpose. If its roots are weak then it is defective and unable to fulfil its function and purpose.

Question 16

Apply Foot’s arguments to humans.

Answer 16

human beings can be excellent or defective. We can have “good dispositions of the will” or we can be defective and lack these good character traits

Question 17

What did Foot say about character traits?

Answer 17

They are observable and absolute. She argues that we can call a person a “just man” or an “honest woman” and that when we do this we are referring to a person who recognises traits such as promise keeping as being a powerful reason to act.

Question 18

What does Foot say about observing character traits?

Answer 18

We can observe these qualities in other people. We can observe an honest person doing honest things and having a reason for doing this. From this then we must conclude that morals and traits are absolute and can be observed.

Question 19

Give Foot’s example.

Answer 19

She gives the example of an anthropologist sent from Russia to study the people of a Malayan group. He refrains from taking a photo of a native and keeps to his agreement when the native is sleeping because the natives believe that something is taken out of them when photographed, and he observes this tradition and so keeps his agreement.

Question 20

What does Foot say about trust?

Answer 20

Trust matters in human communities. Trust and justice are connected to human happiness and humans have developed ways of living together and have developed rules to help them do this. Such rules are natural, absolute and observable.

Question 21

How does Mackie support ethical naturalism?

Answer 21

Argues that we can observe what is right or wrong based on the rules we have in our ‘institutions’ or society.

Question 22

How does Mackie vary from ethical naturalists?

Answer 22

Argues that these rules vary based on culture and so there is no absolute good, no singular definition of good.