Strengths

• What are the main strengths of naturalism?

  • ethical propositions are true because they are factual
  • right and wrong are objective
  • ethical propositions can give us solid guidelines
  • we can be judged by our compliance with the rules
  • most people tend to follow (knowingly or otherwise) oe naturalist theory or another
• One strength of naturalism is that ‘ethical propositions are true because they are factual‘. Give detail about how this is a strength:

  They ’reduce to’ non-ethical properties about the world, such as happiness, love and well-being, and these facts are grounded in nature or in human nature. These are easily identifiable.
• One strength of naturalism is that ‘right and wrong are objective’. Give detail about how this is a strength:

  They exist in the world outside ourselves. If there is an objective moral reality, then we can know if we are doing right or wrong.
• One strength of naturalism is that ‘ethical propositions can give us solid guidelines and ruses to follow’. Give detail about how this is a strength:

  Rule Utilitarianism, for example.
• One strength of naturalism is that ‘we can be judged by our compliance with the rules’. Give detail about how this is a strength:

  If we break the rules, then this gives us the justification -for punishing offenders.
• One strength of naturalism is that ‘most people tend to follow (knowingly or otherwise) one naturalist theory or another’. Give detail about how this is a strength:

  It is often said, for example, that many principles of law and politics in the UK are broadly utilitarian in character.