Naturalism and Bradley introduction

Question 1

What is meta-ethics?

Answer 1

The analysis of ethical language. It asks what we mean when we describe something as ‘good’

Question 2

What is the idea of naturalism?

Answer 2

Naturalism is the idea that objective moral laws exist naturally and therefore ethical statements can be verified or falsified using empirical evidence.

Question 3

Naturalists claim ‘good’ can be:

Answer 3

• known independent of human opinion
• verified or falsified
• observable
• intrinsic to certain items/actions

Question 4

According to an ethical naturalist, what is an ethical proposition expressing?

Answer 4

Expressing factual knowledge - used in the same way as a non-ethical proposition

Question 5

Why are ethical propositions meaningful?

Answer 5

Because they can be verified using empirical evidence.

Question 6

1. Moral terms can be understood by analysing the natural world

Answer 6

• Ethical Naturalists find their evidence for good or bad in the empirical world, while Divine Command Theorists find it through revelation
• we use sensory information and apply logical faculties to it to obtain truth.

Question 7

2. Ethical statements can be verified or falsified (are cognitive)

Answer 7

We can verify from experiences that kind acts are ‘good’ and cruel acts are ‘bad’, due to the happiness or suffering that these experiences produce.

Question 8

3. Verified moral statements are objective truths and universal

Answer 8

• Once an ethical statement has been verified as true, this means that it is an objective fact and true regardless of opinion.
• it can then be applied universally to all people, regardless of culture or situation.

Question 9

4. Objective features of the world make propositions true or false

Answer 9

• if these experiences are mind independent, uniform and universal, it means ethical statements are true because these experiences are grounded in the objective features of the world around us.

Question 10

What did FH Bradley write?

Answer 10

• wrote his version of ethical naturalism in his 1876 book “Ethical Studies.”

Question 11

Why was Bradley not a naturalist philosopher?

Answer 11

Because he recognised it as being problematic.

Question 12

What two things did Bradley reject?

Answer 12

1. hedonism - pleasure doesn’t lead to self understanding (utilitarianism)
2. duty for duty’s sake - it is a false attraction (Kantian ethics)

Question 13

Why else did Bradley reject Bentham’s theory of Act Utilitarianism?

Answer 13

Because it focused too much on the community and not the individual.

Question 14

“to know what a man…”

Answer 14

“is you must not take him in isolation.”

Bradley

Question 15

What did Bradley view humans as?

Answer 15

Social creatures working interdependently with other humans and affecting them - we cannot see ourselves as isolated individuals.

Question 16

How did Bradley believe we understood our place in the world?

Answer 16

Interacting with the world will reveal our sense of ethical duty.

Question 17

“what he has to do depends on…”

Answer 17

“what his place is, what his function is.”

Bradley

Question 18

When does everything function as it is meant to, according to Bradley?

Answer 18

When everyone works within their particular station.