naturalism Flashcards
what is meta ethics?
an attempt to understand the meaning of ethical statements
what is naturalism?
a theory that states that we can learn the meaning of ethical terms like ‘good’ and ‘bad’ by looking at knowledge gained through the senses
what type of view does naturalism take?
takes a realist view, that the world around us can be known
why is naturalism cognitivist?
it says that ethical statements are meaningful and can be verified or falsified
why is naturalism normative?
makes judgements about good or bad behaviour by observing our behaviour and it positive or negative effects on the world
what did F.H Bradley believe about the ‘self’?
the individual self is a part of wider society from which it cannot be separated. to understand ones self is a journey of self realisation
what were Bradley’s ‘stations’?
moral behaviour involves understanding ones station in society (social roles, such as father, son daughter).
we should apply our duties to these stations, morality consists of us applying our will to theses duties.
what is the challenges of the naturalistic fallacy?
that it is false to try and define moral terms by relating them to other states like happiness or fulfilling a duty.
good cannot be defined
what does Moore say about defining a natural property?
naturalistic fallacy
Moore compared this to defining the colour yellow, as goodness like yellow cannot be defined as a natural property.
when they raise an open question it cannot be answered with a simple yes or no
what is the challenge of the is/ought problem?
just because something is the case doesn’t mean it should be the case. an ought cannot be derived from an is.
e.g murder is the ending of a life, it is disapproved by society, it is traumatic for both victim and family. therefore, we ought not murder.
then ought statement is prescriptive and comes from our feelings about the fact. it is not a moral fact.
what is the challenge of the open ended question?
a closed question can be settled by defining the terms an open question cannot. e.g John is a bachelor, Q; but is he single?
the answer to an open question cannot be derived from the premise. if good=natural then we can always substitute natural for good, however this does not work as: abortion is not natural does that therefore make it not good? sickness is natural natural does that make it good?
